Kung Fu Panda: Murderers and Lovers
by CookBoss88
Summary: Murders and homicides have been happening throughout the city of Shanghai, the bloody traces had been followed towards the valley of peace, Leading investigator: Chang Reed tracks down the murderer, but soon meets the leader of the furious Five: Master Tigress. Tigress\OC, Po\OC, Viper\OC Rated T\M just in case, Story's better than the summary
1. Chapter 1

**Hey hey hey! What up fanfictioners?! Now, I know what you're thinking: this isn't an ice age fic, no sir it is definitely NOT an Ice Age fic. However I chose to do this because I just couldn't help myself! But don't worry, for the readers that follow my current Ice Age story "When Louis Met Jessie" I will NOT, I repeat, I will Not give up on that story and it will be continued eventually, just need patience.**

**Now without further distractions Here's : Kung Fu Panda: Murderers and Lovers**

**Disclaimer: I do not own KFP, I own the plot and The OC's.**

Tigress never saw it coming; she was right in the middle of a sparring match with viper when Master Shifu suddenly received a distress letter form the constable of Shanghai, requesting dire help. Murders had spread throughout the city, the mayor hadn't done anything to confront the problem , the police are doing everything in their power to catch the cold blooded killer. But he proved to be as slippery as an eel. Investigators couldn't get a proper lead on the suspect, because he never leaves anything behind, except for a cold, dead, body of the victim; or whatever's left of them.

So there they were, the Furious Five and the Dragon warrior out on the road towards Shanghai, it take them at least five days or so to get there, they've packed food, tents and everything that said travel needs for the journey, and guess who Shifu had assigned (correction: Forced) to carry it all.

"Po, would you hurry up! You're lagging behind!", Tigress shouted

Way behind the pack, Po was struggling to keep his balance in check due to the weight of the equipment that was forced upon him. The poor panda was practically buried in traveling gear. In the order of Master Shifu, the Panda was to carry everything they need for the way there. They've already covered the first five miles, just two more to go!

"Carry all the gear he says, it'll be good for losing weight he says. YEAH! Weight my ASS!" he thought darkly. Don't get him wrong, it's bad enough that Shifu had to make cracks about his weight , the master had to make him a pack mule.

"Seriously, first Tai-Lung then Lord Shen, to think I'd get more respect than this"

He was snapped out of his sulking reverie by Tigress' loud hollering.

"Po c'mon! there are Tai-Chi movements that move faster than you!"

She received multiple looks form her teammates, Viper in particular was eyeing her best friend with a suspicious eye.

"Tigress, are you alright?", she asked

"I'm fine Viper", she said, but her firm tone says otherwise

Not planning on pressing on the matter, the serpent just nodded and remained silent. Viper had seen the feline get pissed off before, but never in the reptile's life had she seen Tigress act like a slave driver, at least that's what Viper had known. They've been friends ever since they've met and for 6 whole years, Viper still hasn't made a dent in the striped feline's personality.

Behind them, Viper could sense mantis smirking.

"Maybe because it's that time of the month again", the bug joked quietly, as he was perching on Monkey's shoulder.

"Mantis!", Viper grilled

Tigress groaned inwardly, pinching the bridge of her nose in aggravation

'This is going to be a long walk' She concluded

After Five bathroom breaks -Mostly that was Po's bathroom breaks, he had to endure the awkward silence while he peeing and as if Mantis knew he was finished he had the liberty of shouting: 'Shaking it more than twice is playing with yourself!' and it pretty much help the process along- three lunch breaks and 2 excruciatingly long –and albeit out of tune- singing later; they've finaly reached Shanghai, with a day to spare

"Oh thank the Gods, we made it! Anymore walking and I'll be giving myself a heart attack!", Po exclaimed before dropping all the baggage that strained his movement

They were near the City gates, it was conveniently placed besides the local market. Sellers and merchants hollered about their wares as passing potential costumers took notice of their products, some were arguing and haggling for an agreeable price.

It was very crowded at this time of day; the heat was quite unbearable due to the blazing summer sun that glared upon the city folk.

"PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG! NOW!"

Well….. the sun isn't the only thing that was blazing today.

VVV

Meanwhile, about half way into the City from where the six warriors were:

The hot summer sun bored down into the pavements of a certain street, so much so that it made the Gobi desert look like a summer paradise. In a peaceful coffee shop named "Guan Long Café" a serpentine individual entered the doors.

"Hey Peng", a score of people greeted the snake cheerfully

'Peng' however wasn't deterred by the warm welcome. His eyes were shot, cheeks damp and looking pretty downed by something

"Hi", Peng finally greeted back, but not as enthusiastic as his company had hoped.

One of his friends -a lion- scoffed

"This guy says: Hello, I wanna kill myself" the lion described

"Chang!", A female panda scolded him, she then proceeded to comfort Peng

"Are you alright, sweetie?", she asked

"It's okay Cynthia", Peng reassured

"I just feel like someone just reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth and tied it around my neck"

"Cookie?"

All three people glared at a female eagle right after she courteously and mockingly offered the down hearted serpent a cookie

"Rae!", Cynthia scolded again

"Sorry"

Peng ignored her as he took a seat near Cynthia who graciously put a sympathetic hand on the serpent's back.

"Is this about Ling again?" Chang asked, Peng only nodded

"Oh sweetheart, you have to let her go. She's no good for you", said Cynthia

"Yeah man, you deserve better", Chang agreed, a look of complete sincerity plastered on his face. But he wasn't finished

"I mean seriously, she's a conniving little bitch, you dated her for five years and yet you never knew was lesbian"

Wow, no wonder they broke up…

"NO! okay?", Peng exclaimed

"Why does everybody keep fixating on that?" he asked

"She didn't know, how should I know?!"

"You know sometimes I wish _I_ was a lesbian", Rae confessed, earning herself an eyeful of weirded out looks from her friends, that's when it hit the avian

"Did I just say that out loud?"

As usual, everyone ignored her and focused their attention on poor Peng

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I can go through with this". Peng said sorrowfully

Chang went ahead and patted the snakes back in attempt to console him.

"Hey man, don't worry. We're here for ya"

"I don't know Chang, I mean, Ling and I dated for five years. I mean sure, she broke my heart by leaving me but those five years that we had were the greatest days of my life"

He whimpered as a single tear ran down his scaled cheek

"And now that I'm alone, I just…. I just couldn't take being alone. I just wanna be in a relationship again"

And at that moment, a female serpent, looking much like his own age decided to enter the shop. She looked like she had been in a fight, her head ornaments were out of place, and her back was smudged, soiling the tattoos that ran down her back right down to her tail.

It seemed that she was looking for something, judging by the way she frantically turning her head side by side, she was probably in a rush.

Peng and his friends stared in bewilderment as the stranger kept looking about, 'till her eyes rested on Peng and his staring back. He felt a slight panic when the other snake suddenly slithered toward him

"Are you Officer Peng Maverick?", she asked out of the blue

"Er…"

"Close enough!"

He didn't have time to breath when she suddenly wrapped her tail just around the male snake's middle and hastily yanked him out of his seat.

"Come with me, I need you!", she said as she dragged him out of the door

The three that got left behind looked on, thoroughly confused. What the hell just happened?

"And _I_ just want a thousand yuan", Rae confessed, it worked with Peng, Maybe it would work for her. The avian held out her wing towards the door, as if her 'Thousand yuan' would just fly into her open wing, but of course it never happened.

"The Fuck?"

VVV

Peng's mind was racing with questions, who _was_ this girl? And _what_ could she probably need him for? But then again he _was_ a man of the law, maybe she got her purse stolen or maybe she needs to report a complaint.

"Okay stop!, just Stop!", Peng ordered

"What?", she asked

"Whatta ya want from me? And why did ya dragged me out here?"

Their –for a lack of a better label- conversation was cut short when a crate flew by the pair and slammed against a wall, smashing it to pieces. Peng looked ahead in time to see an ax flying towards his direction. Brandished and sharpened, ready to claim first blood.

He knew better than to just stand there like a sitting duck, he jumped into action. Literally.  
>With sharp precision, he snapped his at the blunt end of the ax like a whip, causing it to ricochet up into the air. At the last second, as the axe started to fall to the ground, he wrapped his tail around the handle of the weapon. Despite being smaller than the ax itself, he was able to swing it and throw it back to the one who threw it at him at the first place, a boar bandit.<p>

The boar didn't have time to react when he suddenly flew backwards as the ax made contact with the sleeve of his burlap shirt, pinning his arm to a near by wall, temporarily immobilizing him.

Pleased with his work, he beamed towards the female snake only to find out that she wasn't there anymore.  
>A battle cry rang into his ears, despite the loud roar of the other combatants. That was when he noticed that the female snake was amongst the melee. She was doing just fine on her own, actually, Fine was an understatement; she was kicking some serious ass!<p>

Wait…. If she can handle this herself….then what the hell was he doing here?!

VVV

Tigress fumbled at the balls of her feet as she tried to balance herself midst the brawl.

'Come on Tigress, get your damn act together!', she scolded herself as she dodged a sword that swung by a mere few inches near her head, the wielder was a one eyed wolf, and judging from the lupine's clothing and armor he was the bandit's leader.

The Canid was slashing the blade violently; for a bandit, the display was impeccably skillful. So much so that it made Tigress slip a few times but she always manages to pull through, despite her 'condition'.

Then something happened that made the feline's heart sink in fear, she tripped over some debris when she backing away from the bandit. She fell flat on her back, with no chance recovering, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth expecting the sharp blade to deliver the final blow. But yet it never came.

A growl and a canid yelp reached her ears, she opened her eyes to a big looming figure standing right in front of her.

Chang, Cynthia and Rae arrived just in time. Cynthia was currently punching her way through a wall of armed boars; Rae was busy slicing her talon through the metal swords that armed a hoard of Crocs. Chang Face the same wolf bandit who had acquired a new sword after Chang had kicked it out of the old one out of his paws and received a punch to the face afterwards. The lion carefully analysed his opponent, deducing every single detail.

Chang's POV

Right eye scarred, possibly got it from a knife causing said eye to go blind, lessening depth perception. blind spot, right flank.

Faint aroma of rice wine, heavy drinker, weak leg strength, even weaker liver.

FIrst: distract target with false swipe

*Chang throws a fake punch, making the wolf do a downward chop with his sword, but misses8

Second: Kick the sword away then use blind spot to gauge left eye with elbow strike

* Chang kicked the wolf's hands causing the canid to lose his only weapon. Then Chang spinned counter clock-wise with his elbow pointed and poised for inflicting damage,hitting its mark when it made contact with the wolf's good eye*

Third: lastly , double kick target, one on his liver and one on his knee cap

*Delivering two kicks to the Canid's body, one on his obliques where his liver should be and one powerful kick to his knee cap*

CRACK!

*the wolf fell down*

Unarmed, both eyes blind, a shattered knee cap and a bruised liver. Estimated time for recovery: Six months.  
>Estimated time in jail: Six years<p>

Normal POV

Chang took a moment as he observed the wolf who was now writhing in agony; Chang glanced behind him and lend the fallen master a hand. Tigress stared guffawed at the lion, she's seen a lot of styles of Kung Fu, but she had never seen a style so straight forward and... hard.

She had also noticed a badge on the lion's breast pocket, the chinese characters for 'S'-'P' and 'D' engraved on the bronze plating. "S.P.D" she mentally read, and that's when it hit her.

"Shanghai Police Department", she said as she took the lion's massive paw within hers to help herself up. She couldn't help but notice how firm his grip was, how strongly he pulled her up, how tall he was; How...how masculine, how...Hot-

She rid herself of the intruding thoughts out of her head.

"You alright miss?", Chang asked, snapping Tigress out of her thoughts

"Er... yeah. I am, thank you", she managed to say, whilst marveling on how deep his voice was, Damn it! Pull yourself together!

She looked away from his to distract herself, she was a little surprised when she saw that  
>all the bandits had already been detained and handcuffed for jailing.<p>

Chang tightened his grip on the other feline's paw making her look back at him with a questioning look, which disappeared immediately when she saw the -ever so sexy- lopsided, toothy grin on the lion's face

"Well, that's good to know..."

Before Tigress could even have time to react, Chang had twisted her wrist (Not to break, just to manipulate)  
>and before the striped feline even knew it, she was pinned to the ground, flatt on her belly<br>and her paws were handcuffed

"...Cuz you and your friends...are under arrest"

**And there you go! I hope you enjoyed this cuz I really had fun writing this...**

**So whatta ya'll think...good?, bad?...**

**Po:Awesome?**

**CookBoss: Yeah, What he said, well anyways pls don't forget to review and remember: I do not own Kung Fu Panda...Cuz if I did... I should be swimming in wads of money right now...but alas... 'tis noting but  
>wishful thinking...WELP See yah!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey hey hey! What uuuuuup?! **

**Well anyways, I don't have much to say right now except: Chang's fight scene from chapter one was purely based on the movie "Sherlock Holmes" and... that I do not own Kung Fu Panda but the Oc's are mine. **

Mr. Gao never liked loud noises, although being a cranky, anti-social sixty eight year old recluse with a short temper, he pretty much hates everything in general. The sound of pounding went on and on from the second floor apartment and to 's displeasure, it was conveniently placed exactly above his apartment. A woodchuck was currently inhabiting that room (and ironically enough, he happens to be a woodworker) and he was quite the hardworking fellow that he tends to work on projects throughout the day and barely gets any sleep during the night, therefore resulting the lack of sleep and rest from his neighbours. in particular, despises him with a passion. The old goat had been shouting and cursing as loud as he could at the noisy worker but it never works, so he tried the old 'bang the broom to the ceiling' but with the same results. Pissed, he grabbed his walking stick, enragely tore the door open and shuffled up to the stairs not minding that had just left the door unlocked.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Open up! Open up! " Mr. Gao demanded as he knocked or rather used his cane as a battering ram on the door. It eventually opened, reveling woodchuck wearing a pair of worker boots and a ragged overall with a hammer in his left paw; He wa covered in soot and wood shavings, evidence that he had been working on a current project and Unlike Mr. Gao, the woodchuck was grinning like a wise guy.

" " he greeted "What brings you here?"

"Your confounded racket brought me here bucktooth!" the old goat snapped, the woodchuck looked offended.

"Whoah there Mr. Gao, Easy on the name calling"

"Serves you right, you chainsaw with legs! "

The woodchuck was getting mad now.

"Okay , whatta ya want? " he demanded, looking very dead serious now.

"What do I want? I want ya to keep it down and do us all a favor and shut the fuck up before I report you to authorities!"

"I'm doing my job Mr. Gao"

"Then get a damn new one you worthless bum! "

The woodchuck didn't want to hear anymore of that, so he slammed the door on the old cogger and made sure it was locked. Mr. Gao grunted inaudibly, thinking that he'd won. The other people who resided on that floor looked on after hearing the arguing outside of their doors.

"The fuck are you looking at?" he cursed at the on-lookers, making them retreat into their apartments.

He arrogantly 'Hmp!'-ed and limped towards the stairs back to his apartment. When he eventually got there, he noticed that the door to his apartment was wide open; It dawned on him that he had forgot to lock thethe door when he left. But instead of being cautious, he just barged right in, only to see a red note on his living room table. He picked it up and read it.

'Never leave your door unlocked' it says...

At first he only disregarded it as some sick prank, but the ever so paranoid man that he is, he went off to lock the door and to make sure it was locked. As soon as he closed the door, he found another note sticking to the opposite side of it.

'Don't forget the windows' he read

Now he was getting scared. He ripped the note off the door and made sure he had locked it twice. He then waddled as fast as he could towards the windows, he made sure that noone is getting in, and no one's getting out. It never occured to him that he had just trapped himself inside his own apartment.

By now he was sweating bullets and hyperventilating. He felt as if he wasn't alone in that room; in a desperate atempt to calm himself down, he quickly made a bee-line towards the bathroom, planning on splashng some water onto his face, but as soon as he got there he found, yet another note sticking to the mirror of the sink. To what was written on the note had sent a cold chill riding down his spine.

'I never said I was outside the apartment'

He couldn't panic, he couldn't scream, he couldn't even run...

Because an ax had already severed his neck...

Mr. Gao's head rolled off of his shoulders as his still-warm blood gushed out of the stump of his neck, coating the bathroom tiles in red, his body flailed about in its last seconds of being alive. The legs spasmed for five more seconds before it had eventually stopped.

The killer licked the blood on his finger tips before jamming his murder weapon to the wooden floor. He grabbed the dead body in its middle, lifted it over his shoulders like it was a sack of rice before dislodging his ax from the floor. More blood dripped from the stumpped neck as the murderer reached for a bag retrieving a rope and an arsenal of blades from it.

Po banged on the bars of the prison cell for the twentieth time now, his nose was slightly bruised and throbbing, one would think it came from an intense brawl but instead it came from a female panda (of all things) he remembered clearly how he even thought she was a helpless citizen who got caught in the middle of the raid, and man can she pack a punch.

Right after the bandit incident, the five were very much surprised when they found themselves pinned against the pavement while their so-called helpers were busy shakling them. They we're now currently jailed at the local precinct, it wasn't really that big of a prison but it was enough for the six of them.

"Come on! Let us outta of here! There's been a big misunderstanding!" Po begged

"Give it up Po!" Tigress yelled back. The rest of the warriors were locked up in the same cage, Mantis however, was locked in a small cast iron cage due to his size and Viper was forced to sit next to a very very pissed off tiger. Of all the missions they've been on, of all the craziest things they've encountered, this had to be the most unexpected: Going to a murder infested place to catch the killer But instead getting arrested themselves, wasn't part of the plan.

Viper Watched her feline friend closely, she had never seen the tiger this angry before. Tigress was practically carving her claws into the wooden bunk bed that was attached to the wall of the cell, and the fact that she was growling at every time she mutters 'Lion' under her breath then quickly being followed by a curse or two and it scared the hell out of Viper. Tigress being in a furious violent fit was one thing, but if she was being really quiet and probably muttering somebody's name in a murderous fashion was another. "Get the hell out of there!" Was the ringing shout from Viper's thoughts, she and Tigress may have been friends for a very long time but secretly, the snake was scared to death of her. Normaly she'd ask what her problem is, but judging by the deep dents on the bunk bed Tigress was sitting on, the tiger would've shouted at the snake.

"C'mon! Let us out already. We were just trying to help, we didn't do anything wrong" Po continued to beg. It was then that Monkey had to grab the Panda by his shoulders and shooked him

"Po just give it up!" The simian ordered the panda

"Why? We didn't even do anything wrong!" He argued

"Alright look..." Mantis spoke up from his cage "_This_ is how they do the law here in Shanghai" he confessed, noting the bewildered looks of his fellow warriors "I should know, I've been arrested here a couple of times"

"What for?" Monkey asked

"Where do I start?" Was the insect's reply

A clang from cell block door caught their attentions, an eagle -female from looks of it- was standing at the doorway, beaming at the six warriors. Po and Crane had instantly -especially Crane- recognised her, undoubtedly she was one of the four police officers that helped/arrested them.

"Hey! Excuse me!" Po called to her, making her look into his direction "yeah, let us out!"

"Why?" She asked, shrugging nonchalantly

"Oh I don't know maybe because we're innocent!", he argued at the avian who still didn't look interested "Don't you know who we are?"

"Of course I do, you're the Furious Five; the five students of master Shifu and one of the most finest warriors in all of China"

"You sorta forgot me" Po pointed out.

"Oh of course, and there pack mule" she quipped, faking dismay "how could I forget?"

Po's jaw dropped, then his ears flattened against his head, feeling majorly offended.

"For you information, lady! I happen to be the dragon warrior"

Rae wasn't impressed by the tittle

"Oh sure, and I'm the emperor's favorite concubine" she snapped sarcastically

"Could've fooled me" Crane suddenly shot back, surprising everyone -even himself- for he had just stood up disrespected an officer.

But instead of chastising the other bird for his lack of respect, she only smirked and crossed her wings across her chest.

"Master Crane, I assume?" She said, almost civil enough.

"Rae Han Li" Crane greeted flatly "It's been a while"

Po and the rest of the five had stood still, baffled by what the avian master had said.

"I believe there should be an officer in there somewhere"

"Yes, and I believe that when the gods had finished creating the universe they thought it might be fun to make my life a living hell by creating the greatest reason for my tail-feathers to shed"

Rae smirked at that comment.

"You know, you've always liked being the dramatic type"

"And you've always been the type to be the constant pain in my ass" He cursed; he noted the reactions on his teammate's faces, Viper in particular seemed to stand out the most. The snake had hardly ever heard Crane curse at anything, but yet on rare occasions the avian would frequently groan 'crap' or 'damn' but he had never used anything much stronger. Whoever this Rae Han Li is, Crane surely despises her.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk... Is that anyway to talk to your girlfriend?"

Well... Damn!

"Oh my god! Crane is that true?" Po asked (Read: interogated)

"Ex-Girlfriend and evil incarnate" Crane corrected "Plus that was a million years ago"

"Oh boo-hoo!" Rae exclaimed "Let's not forget that _you're _the one broke my heart when you left Li-Dai"

That was a little too farfetched, This was Crane! The most sensitive, shy person they've ever known!

"You're still talking about the same Crane, aren't you?" Mantis asked suspiciously

Ignoring the insect's question, Rae just took out a score of keys, one of which opens the prison cell. The six warriors were at a loss when Rae jammed the key into the keyhole and opened the barred door. She then took a second key - smaller than the first one - and threw it at Po, who was fortunate enough to catch it into his paw.

"That one opens the Cockroach's cage" she informed before casually walking off, ignoring the look Mantis was giving her

"You're letting us go?" Crane asked suspiciously

"As much as I want you to die in this prison and rot, you and your little friends are clean"

"Wait, what about our equipment?" Mantis asked once he had gotten out of his cage

"At the station" Rae replied as she beckoned them to follow her into the hallway

"You better make sure nothing's missing" Tigress pointed out, if not harshly

"Don't worry, the station will make sure your belongings are accounted for" she said

Rae made a turn from the left of the hallway and out into the prison yard, not one prisoner lingered the ground for it wasn't time for them to be let out, it was already dusk and every prisoner was already in their cells.

"So, where Is this station?" Viper asked

"We're here" Rae answered before pushing two wooden doors open.

"Hey Rae!-" Cynthia suddenly popped out of nowhere, slightly catching them off guard, she herself was at a loss when she spotted the six warriors.

"-and company" she trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say.

Luckily Rae came to her rescue, deciding to introduce the female panda.

"Masters, and Crane" she mocked, noting how it annoyed him "meet our forensic analyst Cynthia Mei Xiang"

Cynthia greeted them with a smile and a respectful bow, "It is an honor to meet you all" she said politely, her eyes then trailed over to Po, who was staring guffawed at her, this didn't come unnoticed

"Is there something wrong?" She asked warily

"Uh...nothing, just er... I just, sorta recall you punchin' me in the face" he said, pointing at his bruised nose for emphasis.

Cynthia blushed immensely and cupped her hands over her mouth in attempt to hide her shame.

"I'm so sorry about that" she said as she made her way towards the other panda "does it hurt?"

Po winced when Cynthia gently put a finger on his nose.

"Yeah, it hurts when you poke it like that" he said, moving away from her.

"Oh sorry"

"Cynthia..." Rae spoke up "If you could wrap it up that would be great, I still have get these guys to Chang"

The eagle noticed how Tigress seemed to get tensed when she brought up the Lion's name.

"Do you know where he is?"

"He and Peng are upstairs at the gym" Cynthia answered " Oh and can I borrow him for a sec?" The female panda pointed at Po who fidgeted uncomfortably, no thanks to his other male companions who were giving him a look that said 'You lucky bastard'

"Why?" Rae asked

"I'm now obligated to at least treat the wound I gave him" she looked at Po with concern and a shy smile "It's the least I could do after I punched him the shnoze"

"Urgh! Alright make it quick" Rae said dismissively

Po felt himself grow warm when Cynthia held his hand firmly and guided him along towards the station's clinic, feeling the looks of his male friends on his back. It was very quiet between the two pandas, Po just sat there on a stool while Cynthia reached up into the shelves to find some gauze for his nose.

"So..." Po started, then just trailed off.

Finally founding gauze, she turned to face Po.

"So...What?" She asked expectantly as she prepared the gauze and antiseptic.

"You're a forensic analyst?"

"That I am"

"So what does that mea- Ow!"

Po yelped when he felt the antiseptic on his bruised nose.

"Sorry"

She went on and as gently as she could, she swabbed a bit of antiseptic on Po's still throbbing nose with cotton. It still stings but the pain was much more manageable.

"You haven't answered my question" Po pointed out, she sent him a confused look

"What question?"

"About your... You know? Your job"

"Oh, well..." She disposed the cotton and began to prepare the gauze.

"...I get to examine a dead body"

Po froze, suddenly thinking that an untreated wound on a nose wasn't worth treating anymore. Cynthia caught his terrified look.

"Oh, I mean er... I examine dead bodies from let say a murder, and nobody knows how that person was killed so its up to me to find out what killed him" she explained, sighing in relief when Po eased up.

"Okay..." Po trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"What about you?" She asked suddenly as she began to wrap the gauze around his nose "Tell me a bit about yourself"

"Well, I don't want to brag but I'm actually the Dragon Warrior" he said smugly, hoping she would be impressed, To say that he was disappointed when he saw nothing was a bit of an understatement.

"Really?" She asked, she paused from treatng his nose to look at him skeptically

"You? A panda? As _the_ Dragon Warrior?"

"Well yes, is that kinda hard to believe?"

She would've said: _Yes, yes. Hell freaking yes_, but the kind hearted side of her only answered: "Well, a little bit" before focusing on the task at hand.

After she made some final touches on the gauze, she took medical tape to hold the gauze in place.

"And...done. All better now" she said as she put away the first aid kit

"Want some tea?" She offered

"No thanks, and shouldn't we be going? Ms. Li said not to take too long"

"Ha... 'Ms. Li'" she giggled "Better not let her hear you say that again or else she will kill you"

"Okay" was his only reply, not knowing to make of that statement

She offered him her hand and said "Shall we?"

Absentmindedly, he took her hand as he stood up.

VVV

The sound of battle cries and clanking metal filled the air when they arrived at the third floor of the building. When Rae opened the door, the five warriors were met by a display of exotic forms of martial arts. On the left side was Chang, sporting nothing but a pair of white trousers, a black strap around his waist (kinda like a Karate/Taekwondo black belt), completely bare chested, exposing his impressive physique and glistening with sweat, beads of it were dripping off of his face as he panted from the hard sparring. Wielding a katana blade, one would immediately knew that he was a master when it came to the art of swordplay just by looking at how he wielded it.

On the other side of the arena was Peng. The snake flicked his tongue at the feline, tasting the air as if he could foresaw what Chang's next move was. Equipped with a tail blade, he flicked it from side to side like an angry scorpion.

The two combatants were fixated on themselves that they hadn't noticed that they had an audience watching them. All was quiet as they stared each other down. Then... Peng struck!

The serpent went at him with everything he had, zigging and zagging from all angles, swiping his tail at the lion with a speed only a snake could posses. Though, no matter how fast he struck, Peng couldn't even slice a hair off of the cat.

Chang parried each and every attack with his Katana, using the very technique he used on the wolf from the bandit attack earlier today. Reading the snake like a book, he calculated the right moment to go into the offensive. Once in a while, Peng would falter a bit, until he completely lost his focus. Chang took the window and gave the serpent all he got. He slashed the Katana blade with lightning fast accuracy that Peng couldn't out match. The Furious Five gawked at the display, never had they seen such fierce sword play, even Tigress (Who was the most hardest of the five) felt intimidate. Looks like threatening him just got a whole lot harder.

It was quite obvious that Peng was struggling, and Chang knew that.

The Lion's eyes focused themselves at the snake's rather obvious flaws, little things that would serve big results to the outcome of this match.

Chang's jade green eyes saw the look on his opponent's face.

*Listing, deducting*

'Sluggish movement, Panting, Less power when striking back. signs of extreme fatigue'

*noting Peng's eyes*

'Pupils dialated to full extent, flooding with anger. Sign of frustration, typical Peng'

They kept exchanging and blocking each other's strikes, until Chang saw the window he was waiting for. He ducked sideways as Peng trusted his tail blade forward, making the snake miss and ad his tail was still extended, Chang slashed his sword to collide with the snake's weapon. It was well known that Katana Blades were made with a very strong metal alloy, making it one of the most durable weapons in a warrior's arsenal, also rendering it virtually indestructible. So when Peng's tail blade collided with the sword, it was instantly reduced to merely peaces of metal shrapnel, that was propelled at every direction. Lucky for Peng, Chang had angled his sword in a way that it would only hit the tail blade and not the one who was wielding it.

And just like that, the match was over. Chang withdrew his sword and bowed to the snake in respect, Peng didn't bother returning the gesture, instead he just discarded whatever's left of his weapon off of his tail and slithered towards the only exit, not bothering to acknowledge Rae and the five, who quietly stood aside and let the snake through. Viper eyed him warily, if not curiously.

"Chang" Rae spoke up, making the massive Lion look into her direction, it was then he noticed that they had company, they don't look like friendly company (Especially Tigress, who was glaring daggers at the Lion), but they were company nonetheless.

"Ah, the Furious Five" he said as he reached for his black shirt that was draped over a bench "It is an honour to be in your presence" he fisted his hand into his other and bowed respectfully. He could've sworn that he felt a pair of angry, smoldering eyes at the back of his head as he didn't need to deduct whom those eyes came from.

His eyes brought him to Master Tigress. The striped master sent the Lion several glares that could've killed him a thousand times over, her fists clenched, her fangs on the verge of completely emerging from her lips and her ears flattened against her skull, trying her best to not throw herself at the other feline and beat him senseless for what he had done to her earlier...

He had some gall to for pulling that on her, yeah he may be a 'Man of the law', but he didn't have any right to just pin her down to the concrete and cuff her for no reason, right?

She saw him approaching them, he strutted in that typical predator's stride. A bead of sweat rolled down his sculpted chest that rose up and down as he breathed, his shoulders moved rhythmically as he strutted.

_Put your shirt on already, damn it!_ Her mind yelled, trying her best to ward off the intruding thoughts. He's hot, she'll give him that.

"I humbly apologize for what had happened earlier today" said Chang, "...My name is Chang Lei Reed, and on the behalf of the Shanghai Police Department, we welcome you" he added as he put his shirt back on much to Tigress' relief (or was it disappointment?)

He observed the the Five warriors, he couldn't help but linger his sights over to Tigress, who was still glaring at him.

"If you would like to follow Officer Li, she will lead you to the office where your stuff is currently held" he instructed

"Right this way" Rae said as she beckoned them to follow her.

"Master Tigress" Chang called, making the striped Master stop in her Tracks "May I borrow a few minutes of your time so we can talk?"

"Why?" She asked dangerously, crossing her arms over her chest

"You _are_ the leader of this unit, aren't you?" He asked in a leveled voice

"Yes, I am"

"Then I suppose we should talk, we _are_ as a matter of fact, after the same killer"

Rae and the four masters could only watch expectantly.

"Alright" she finally answered, "We'll talk"

Chang could only nod "Right this way Master Tigress"

The tiger master looked towards her teammates "I'll catch up with you guys later" she said before following Chang.

Nothing much was said as Chang led Tigress into a room, it seemed a tad too dark for her liking but she went in anyway. She was put at rest when Chang had lit a lamp, now she could see things quite clearly. The room didn't seem much, a table, a file drawer and drapes adorning the windows. She saw him fish out a file out of the drawer and handed it to her.

"Here's the record of the killer. Every single slaughter he had done is listed in there"

Tigress eyed him dubiously before opening the file. She saw the names of the unfortunate souls that befell a very dark and grousome fate.

_Bao nu (a Goat)- suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest. Arms and legs completely broken, mercilessly eviscerated_

_Shang Lao (a sheep)- Suffered a lacerated neck, both arms severed, mercilessly eviscerated_

_Lang Xu (A Dog)- Suffered a snapped neck, both eyes gauged, mercilessly eviscerated_

And many more had followed. Tigress eyed the seemingly endless list of the dead, it made her sick to her stomach. A number of these victims were _'Mercilessly Eviscerated'_

"How... How did he murdered so many?" She asked gravely "Do you have any leads?"

"Unfortunately, no. You have to understand Master Tigress that Shanghai is a huge city, there's a lot of hiding places, if not hundreds maybe thousands underground" Chang explained

"Well then, what do you _do_ know about this killer? What are his motives? At least tell me you know his species" She ranted

"I'm afraid our knowledge about this killer is limited, what we _do_ know is that he attacks during dark. We've already advised the citizens to stay indoors after dark" he snatched the file out of her paws and promptly put it back in the drawer.

"I suppose this is the part where we discuss our current situation, eh?" She inquired

"You supposed correctly" he said "Gather your team Master Tigress"

VVV

Peng wasn't in the best of moods. Just this afternoon he went home to his apartment only to find that his belongings had been cramped into the hallway, now his first assumption was that he was being robbed but as he got closer to the door he was more than surprised when he saw the very last person he wanted t see right now.

His ex-girlfriend, Ling

_"What the hell are__** you**__ doing here?" He demanded_

_"Oh, you didn't know?" She asked cynically, faking dismay "I'm moving in"_

_Peng's eye twitched for a moment "What do you mean you're __**moving in**__? And what's all my stuff doing in doing in the hall way?"_

_"Oh, and that's the catch. __**You**__ are going to have to move out"_

Move out? MOVE OUT!? How dare her? She had the gall to treat him this way right after she broke his heart into a million pieces, Chang and others were right, she is a bitch, a lesbian bitch, but a bitch nonetheless.

So there he was, wandering the now empty streets. Lonely, brokenhearted, and now homeless... Well not entirely homeless, Chang or Cynthia would probably take him in until he could find a place. He was lucky to have friends like them. Now he felt bad about earlier, he was mad at Ling, but he took it out on Chang. He knew he needed to apologize to The Lion when he comes back to station, and also to their guests.

He was so Engrossed in his Loathing that he almost didn't hear a horrified shriek despite the quiet evening.

"Help! Please! Somebody! "

It was close, without a second to lose he slithered as fast as he could. He rounded a corner of a street, the cries for help had lead him to an old apartment building that was quite familiar of. He didn't waste another second by barging into the doors.

"Hey! What's going on here!? " he asked in an authoritative air. Some residence we're crowding over a room, trying to get a glimpse of whatever the commotion inside, then from inside the room a pale looking goat came bursting out of the door, he looked like he just saw ghost. Also he was bit green around the face like he was about to throw up, he knew this guy; He's the land lord of this apartment building. With hesitation he approached him.

"Officer Peng Maverick" he introduced himself "What seems to be the problem here?"

The goat didn't answer immediately, instead he only let deep, strained breaths. Peng could see the fear in his eyes, he knew right at that moment that whatever's inside that room had really terrified this poor soul.

He decided that he couldn't get anywhere with this one and proceeded towards the door, the onlookers wisely made room for the snake, knowing the authority he had as police officer.

Before he went in, he addressed the crowd.

"Alright, if you would just back away from the door that would be really helpful, thank you"

To his pleasure, the crowd backed off and then he went in. He flickered his tongue in the air, he was surprised to pick up a scent that he was very used to ever since he started this job: Blood. A significant amount of it, it stung his olfactory system.

Eventually, he saw what looked like drops of blood on the floor. He followed that trail and as he followed it he noticed that the drops began to get bigger, turning to pools of blood instead of just drops, and eventually, the trail lead him to the bedroom where the scent was stronger and the blood, more thicker and fresher, the door was already slightly opened.

Although he would never admit this aloud, but he was scared. Yes, he _had_ done this more than once, but he had his team with him and he was going to face whatever grousome scene was waiting for him inside this room.

With a sudden surge of courage, he snapped his tail onto the door, bursting it open and what he saw inside, had immediately made his blood run cold, and horrified him to the bone.

**Oh my god! I am without a doubt **_**the**_** worst author in the world! Four months! Four freaking months without an update. I am really sorry for The long wait, I know most of you are really mad at me right now.**

**Pls, R&R if still want to.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Gasp! Two story updates in the same month?! That's cray cray! Hahaha! A little warning though: Blood, gore, internal organs and did I mention blood? Yeah there's blood. Viewer discretion please.**

**Don't own it, just the OCs and the plot.**

Cynthia was feeling extra giddy tonight, maybe having to cook for the Furious Five _and_ the Dragon Warrior -Who by the way was such a complete cutie!- had something to do with her giddiness. Though as much she felt her heart almost pounding in her chest, she tried to hide it well, otherwise her teammates would start to get suspicious.

She, her team and their guests were now in the lounge which serves as a room for other Officers to either rest or to do some late night work. The lounge had a built in kitchen which was big enough to fit them all. As soon as they got in their to discuss more about the killings, Po immediately volunteered to do the cooking, but not before Cynthia (Who already wearing an apron) shooed him away from the stove claiming that _this_ was _her_ territory. Knowing exactly what she had meant by it, he respectively backed away and took a seat.

The joined team's situation was awkward enough as it is, Po and Cynthia seemed to be the only ones who were on delightful speaking terms, but the rest of them couldn't be said the same.

As soon as he got there, Chang just took a seat and remained quiet, Tigress did the same. Monkey and Mantis just stayed quite and listened to the two pandas' conversation. Viper kept to herself, a certain someone on her mind. Crane and Rae were by far the worst of them all, they completely ignored each other, and if contact -even if their eyes just accidentally meet for some reason- was inevitable they would just sneer at each other.

"You know this is kinda fun for me" said Cynthia, continuing her conversation with Po "I've never really cooked for anyone so famous before"

"Naww... I'm not _that_ famous" Po replied "I mean I know I'm the Dragon Warrior and all but..."

"No really!" She insisted as she effortlessly chopped some Bok Choy and dropped it into the boiling pot of broth and noodles "You're _probably_ the most famous person that I've ever cooked for"

That comment had suddenly drawn the Furious Five's attention. The two pandas seem to be oblivious of the extra ears that were now fixated on them.

"Aw... You probably do that to _all_ the famous people" he said bashfully, then he caught a whiff of the broth

"What're you cooking anyway?" He stood up from his seat

"Oh just noodles" she answered dismissively before taking a small taste test of the broth, she took a second to take in the flavor then she dropped the spoon into the wash basin.

"Needs more salt though" she muttered under her breath but still loud enough for Po to hear it.

"Need any help with that?"

"Naw no thanks I can handle it" she added the salt, gave it a little stir. Then a thought entered her mind. "You know on second thought, can you taste the broth for me see if its alright?"

Po obliged without a seconds thought. He grabbed a spoon for himself and promptly gave the broth a taste. Cynthia looked on, waiting for his reaction. A few more beats passed then, "I'm pickin' up a bit of savor and spice, I m guessing _that_ would be the garlic I'm tasting... A pungent after taste, sorta ginger-ish... And..." He paused for moment, an inquisitive look had immediately appeared on his face, to which had bothered the other panda. The others at the table watch on as if this were the most suspensive moment that they were ever going to see.

"Is something wrong?" Cynthia asked

"That salt that you used... What kinda salt was it?" Po asked back with an uncharacteristicly serious tone

"Er... Its sea salt" she answered warily, thinking that she had made a mistake of using the said spice. Though her discomfort suddenly vanished when she saw the other panda smiling thoughtfully.

"That's a good choice..." Po said, his smile widening

"... I happen to like sea salt" he added before disposing off the spoon that he used into the washbasin.

"So... Is it good?"

"Good? Its tastes awesome!"

She felt a blush stain her cheeks as soon as she heard his compliment. She tried avoid contact with him as she 'nonchalantly' brushed a lock of her hair away from her face.

"Oh... Well I er..." She stammered before 'purposely' taking interest on the dishes in the wash basin.

"Cynthia"

At the mention of her name, she glance towards the table and met eye to eye with Rae, who was giving the panda a very stern look.

"Yeah Rae?" she found herself asking, the blush still visible on her face. She mentally wished that the eagle wouldn't notice it. No such luck, but Rae decided to not talk about it.

"Er yeah if you hadn't noticed yet, people are starving here" Rae retorted

"Speak for yourself" She heard Crane mutter under his breath. She sent him a death glare that made him flee under the safety of his hat.

"Oh right! Lemme just set the table first" she raced towards the dish cabinets and fished out a couple of bowls for the noodles. She fumbled a bit as she struggled to hold them all, of course this hadn't come unnoticed by Po.

"Let me help me ya with that" He offered before he reached for some of the bowls that were already in her arms, she didn't have time to object as he moved far too quickly that she would expect, that was when she noticed that she wasn't even holding anything at all. She took a glanced to the table and there she found the bowls had already been set, including the utensils, and from the looks on her teammates' faces they hadn't even noticed how they got there. The Furious Five shared a knowing look with one another, no doubt having to show their comrade in arm's skill in speed had given a feeling of pride. Though they were still empty she still wondered how quickly Po had set them.

The panda in question suddenly appeared beside her with a smirk.

"Want some help with the servings?" He asked.

*Bang!*

Then suddenly the door to the lounge suddenly burst open. Startled, the five sprang to their feet and into their fighting positions. They were forced to deflate their defenses when they saw that it was Peng standing through the door frame.

The snake was breathing heavily, his face paled a bit due to the distance that he had ran (er... So to speak).

"Peng, what's wrong with you man?! Where've ya been?!" Chang spoke up for the first time "And what the hell happened to you?"

"I was...and there were...and I- argh! Cramp!" Was the snake's less than helpful reply as he slithered inside the lounge.

"I think he's trying to tell us something..." Rae deduced lamely "Cynthia quick, get the verbs!"

And to that, the serpent smacked the eagle with his tail, on a spot on her wing that he knew would hurt, and it did.

"Ow?!" She yelped, of course Peng hadn't acknowledged her, he heaved a few more breaths and then he proceeded to report what he had seen.

"There's been another killing!"

Po and The Five suddenly perked up at the news.

Chang immediately sprang to his feet and dashed towards the snake, demanding the location. When the serpent mentioned the old apartment building near Wu Tang St. Chang and Cynthia shared a look of worry before the female panda rushed out of the room with a quick mutter saying: "I'm getting my equipment"

"Peng"

The snake looked towards Chang, a very dead serious look on his face; the serpent knew exactly why his friend was so out of sorts.

"Don't worry Chang, she's okay" Peng reassured the lion for some reason. Chang became visibly relieved upon hearing that.

Tigress eyed the other feline curiously as he sat back down in his chair. Who was this _she_ that they were talking about? the striped master shooed these thoughts away, mentally reminding herself to mind her own business.

Then Cynthia came back, carrying what looked like a satchel of sorts, "Let's go!" She exclaimed

Chang and the rest of his team followed without complaint, he also beckoned The Five and Po to come with them, saying that they 're gonna need a little help if ever the killer comes back to the scene of the crime.

"But what about dinner?" Came Po's less than eloquent question, it was none other than Cynthia herself that she made her way towards the male panda and casually laid a palm on his shoulder.

"Po..." She began in a no nonsense tone "...What you're going to see once we get to that crime scene, if you eat _now_... You're gonna regret it later on"

Swayed by her words (and her more than cryptic warning) he followed suit right after his team had already gone out of the door.

VVV

Po hurled for third time now. Peng had warned him and The Five earlier about the gruesome scene that awaited them in the victim's bedroom. When they had arrived at the apartment building, Chang had hurriedly ran towards the stairs and hadn't return for some time now, his team didn't stop him for they knew what his problem was, though it left the other masters baffled at his behavior.

With their leader gone for a while, this put Rae in charge for the time being (much to Crane's displeasure) and had ordered the snake to lead them to the body...or rather, the remnants of the body.

The remains of Mr. Gao wasn't even recognisable anymore. Once Peng had opened the door that hid the bloody scene inside, Po and The Five masters suddenly froze in place, then every one of them adapted their own reactions: Tigress covered her mouth in disbelief, not sure of weather or not get furious or feel sorry for the poor soul that suffered this fate. Viper couldn't help it anymore as she let out a quiet sob and bursted to tears, while Crane tried to comfort her by placing a wing at the back of her head and pulled her close to his chest, to which the snake had burried her face into as if not looking at the bloody mess would make it go away. Monkey and Mantis just looked away.

Po was by far the worst of them all, as soon as he saw the butchered old goat, his stomach signaled him to get to the nearest place he could vomit ASAP! He found a potted plant in the far corner of the living room (poor plant) His friends didn't need to ask where he was going and _what_ was he planning on doing, and with good reason, the site in front of them wasn't the prettiest but it was definitely the ugliest that they've seen.

The stench of the blood was enough to make anyone in the room sick to their stomach (save for the ones with the most experience); but seeing the massacre that lied within the confines of the bedroom would scar in anyone's thoughts (namely The Furious Five and Dragon Warrior's).

As for the body of Mr. Gao... Whoever killed him had really taken his time...

There inside the bedroom, the old goat's head was missing. A rope tied around his feet as he dangled to the ceiling and over the bed. Blood still dripping out of his stumped neck and onto the mattress, judging by the big scarlet spot in the center of the bed he had dangled there for some time now. And as if the decapitation wasn't enough, the killer had sliced open the goat's abdomen, spilling his internal organs, intestines and even more blood out.

Po wasn't expecting this, he thought it'd be one of those killers that strangled or cut people's throats, but not _this!_ Who or what could've done such a thing?! He had never seen _that_ much blood in his life, he'd never even been to a crime scene in general!

His stomach felt sick again and he hurled once more. He felt a paw over his shoulder, he looked up and he saw that it was Chang and he was trying his best to comfort him. Pogave him a slurred smile to reassure the lion that he was okay, only to have that smile disappear again as he hurled his stomach contents on the poor plant again.

"Could someone please give Master Po something to sooth his stomach? Thank you!" He ordered to no one in particular, though eventually a kind looking sheep that lived just three doors down the hall took pity on Po and offered him some green tea, with mint of course. Much to his relief, his stomach seemed to calm down minutes later, he had the kindly sheep to thank.

VVV

Eventually, the group had to split up around the entire apartment and even outside of the building to seek out possible exits that the killer might've used, that job was left to Po, Mantis and Monkey of course, they didn't even want to be near the apartment due to the stench of the blood, plus it gave Po an access to some fresh air.

That only leaves Chang, Peng, Cynthia, Rae and the rest of the of the five inside the building. Crane teamed up with Rae (against the persuasion of Cynthia) to do some door to door interviews with the other residents that lived here. Chang and Tigress worked together in looking for clues around the apartment with Viper assisting them.

Which only leaves Cynthia and Peng to look over the body. Whatever salvageable information that could be retrieved from the body was limited, Cynthia could barely even tell that she was looking at a goat, the hooves were the giveaway.

With Peng silently observing her, shining a bright lantern at the body (in the oder of the female panda, she forbid anyone to touch the body for fear it might destroy any evidence before she could even investigate it, so it was left still dangling to the ceiling); as she searched the corpse for evidence, anything that would give her an idea of what killed this poor soul.

Peng shifted a little, so did the lamp and as the light moved Cynthia caught a glimpse of something glinting at the very stump where Mr. Gao's head was supposed to be, Peng saw it too so he instantly shined the lantern back to where the glint came from. And there, lodged in the bloody stump was a fragment of some sort, Peng took a hunch that it was metallic and sure enough when Cynthia had carefully pulled it out (with gloves,of course) it was confirmed that it was a fragment from the murder weapon that killer often used. Peng saw the size of the thing, about a half an inch thick and had a serrated curve.

It was then at that moment that Chang had entered the room with Tigress and Viper not far behind, still trying to avoid looking at the corpse no doubt.

"Found anything?" Chang asked

"Yes, yes we did..." Peng answered. Cynthia held out the metal fragment up for Chang to see

"We found _that_ fragment lodged in his neck, we figured it might be from the murder weapon and it _is_" Cynthia said

"Now all we have to do now is find out _what_ exactly _is_ the murder weapon" Chang concluded, she eyed the two women behind him. He took the fragment in his paw and approached them.

"Master Tigress, Master Viper..." He addressed "...would you mind taking a close look at this and tell me what you see" he held the piece of metal in front of them.

And as they observed it Chang went on "We suspect it might be from the murder weapon, and _you_ being the Kung Fu masters that you are, you might be able to tell us what kind of weapon this might came from considering the fact that you might've worked with this particular weapon in the battle field"

Only a number of Kung Fu warriors had done an analysis on the weapons that they use, meaning that they knew the weapon part by part and what is it made of. Tigress was one such warrior, she had spent a quarter of her life mastering weaponry as well as how it was made, there other occasions that she herself had worked in a weaponry forge and had spent hours and hours making tiny weapons like throwing stars and daggers. And also bigger weapons like swords and battle axes.

Her trained eyes scanned over the metal fragment, mentally listing off and crossing out some ideas or hunches. A few more minutes of observation then she had finally come up with an analysis.

"Well..." She began "...I can certainly tell that this fragment _is_ indeed made from a very strong metal..." She said as she banged it to a near by metal rack to which made a faint clanging sound as it struck, she then continued: "...Though, it wasn't strong enough to prevent it from rusting, as you can see that there is a reddish spot on the side there. I can only theorize that this may be an iron fragment that came from a battle axe. How did I know? As you can see that this is a very thick fragment, and usually these types of weapons are made thick so that it could do more damage when used in battle"

Tigress could've sworn that she felt a pair of eyes staring at her warily after she had finished her analysis on the fragment, she didn't need to turn around since she knew those eyes came from Viper.

"I must say that that that was quite an astute observation Master Tigress" Chang complemented

Viper avoided wiping her wise as she looked at her feline friend, if she wasn't mistaken, she saw a slight tinge of red on the tiger's face. _ What_ _the hell did just saw?!_ Viper thought, she had never seen the striped feline react that way before.

_Is it?... No no, too early to tell..._

"What about you guys?" Peng asked "Got anything?"

"Well..." Chang started "...We've searched all over the apartment, in every room except for the bathroom, we can't get in coz its locked. there wasn't much exits but the windows and the front door..."

He handed a red note to the snake, the latter took it from the feline.

"'Never leave your door unlocked'" he read.

"I found _that _note on the living room table" he told the serpent "Taking from what's written on it, I'd say Mr. Gao went outside for some reason and forgot to lock the door"

The lion walked out of the bedroom, Peng took that as a cue to follow him while Cynthia stayed behind to look for further clues.

As Chang moved around the living room he continued to summarize his findings. Going full virtuoso detective mode.

"...Now when we came in through _that_ door, the first thing I noticed are windows..."

He pointed towards the two windows, one of which was wide open and the other, locked tight.

"...As you can see _here_ *gesturing to the sides of the window frame, a bloody palm print was on it* the killer had obviously used this as an exit. This window leads to a dark alley way, I'm sure he can make a quick getaway from there..."

He then went back to the door which was still open...

"...Now the interesting thing about this door is not the door itself but... *he closed the from inside and it revealed another red note* Its what it is on it that is most intriguing"

Tigress strode over and plucked the note off the door.

"It says: Don't forget the windows. That's strange. It's as if the killer didn't_ want_ to break in"

"Unless..." Viper began, a slight chill time in her voice "...He was already in the apartment and he made sure Mr. Gao didn't have any more exits to use"

"Can you elaborate on that?" Peng said

"Think about it, I mean what kind of killer would this guy be if he leaves notes all over the place that tells the victim how keep him out?"

"Well maybe this is just his polite way of saying: PS. I'm gonna kill you" Peng replied cynically

"Peng" Chang chastised the serpent.

There wasn't much places to look for clues anymore. Well, there was the bathroom but it was locked, though not until Tigress kicked it open. Though when she caught a glimpse of what was inside she quickly wished she had let Chang kick it himself.

"_That_ is a lot of blood" Peng commented, which was more than stating the obvious. The tiles on the bathroom (that were once ivory-white) was now coated with liters of blood, there was so much of it that it almost coated the entire bathroom floor. The walls also had splatters on them as well as the ceiling, Tigress and Viper couldn't even begin to imagine how those splatters got there... And apparently, they didn't want to.

"Cynthia!" Chang called "Get your ass in here! You need to see this!"

The female panda then came out of the bedroom, flustered that she had just got hollered at.

"What?! I was in the middle- whoa its red in there!" she exclaimed when she saw the situation in the bathroom.

Viper looked around the bathroom, she glance at the sink mirror and there she saw the third note.

_I never said I was outside the apartment._

That was when she realized that she was standing in the exact place where Mr. Gao had been decapitated, she felt a chill ride down her spine.

"I think this is where he cut Mr. Gao's head" she said robotically

Chang took a second to collect himself. "Cynthia, gather your findings, get somebody from the station to pick up the corpse and secure this place shut " he ordered, the panda did so.

"Master Tigress..."

She looked him warily, she spied a look of anger in his eyes, and if she wasn't mistaken, frustration.

"...gather your team. We're going back to the station"

VVV

It didn't take long for them to get back to the station. As soon he got in through the doors, Chang got immediately jumped on by little white blur.

"Uncle Chang!"

The lion stumbled back and fell flat on his rump. He felt his chin getting an affectionate nuzzle.

"Su!" He greeted

'Su', the five-year old lion cub, giggled as her Uncle Chang tickled her neck.

Cynthia rushed over and carried the little cub. "Su-su! Where's Aunt Cynthia's hug?"

The cub giggled again as she hugged the female panda.

"Su, where's your mom?" Chang asked

"She's in the kitchen" she answered innocently.

Chang knew the she meant the lounge, Su's mother trusted the station enough to keep her own daughter safe.

"Mama!" Su chimed. the said mother was running down the stairs that was near the front desk when her child had spotted her. Chang immediately approached her and greeted her with a tight hug.

"Who's she?" Mantis asked to no one in particular.

"That's Xiulan Reed" Rae said, "Chang's sister-in-law"

"She lived in that very apartment building where Mr. Gao was killed" Peng followed

Once the two lions released each other, Tigress could now see her directly. This lioness was beautiful. Milky white fur, the bluest eyes that could out shine a sapphire gem and most of all she spoke in the most gentle voice that it could melt the coldest of fronts.

"Masters" Chang called them, getting Tigress out of her thoughts.

"I would like to introduce you to Xiulan Reed, she's my sister-in-law"

" It's an honour to meet such prestigious masters as yourselves" said Xiulan before she bowed to them respectfully.

"I was fortunate enough for the killer to have missed my home, it could've been us"

Su hugged her mother's leg in a small attempt to calm her, also afraid that the killer would come and get her.

"Su... Say hello to them" Chang urged the child on. The little girl waved shyly at the six warriors before hiding behind her mother's leg.

"She's really shy" Xiulan said sheepishly.

"Have you eaten yet?" Chang asked

"Yes, yes I have thank you for asking. I've reheated the noodles, it was already there and I know its for your guests-"

"Xiu its okay" Cynthia cut her off. "I think its great that my cooking didn't go to waste" she sighed heavily "I'm assuming that from whatever these guys saw back there had already ruined their appetites"

The six warriors (namely Po) didn't say anything, for it was all completely true. Po was far from getting that grizzly image out of his head, and with his really big appetite the impact of that unseeable scene had really ruined it.

"You know it's really getting late" Xiulan pointed out "I should really get Su to bed"

"Oh yes, right. Rae, would you please?"

The eagle knew what he meant and escorted Xiulan and Su towards the bunk rooms that was about a floor from where they are now.

"Wait where do _we_ sleep?" Came Mantis' question

"You sleep upstairs" Peng answered "Arrangements had already been made and we thought that it be convenient for all of us if you spend the rest of your staying here if were to work together to catch the murderer"

Cynthia caught the looks of uncertainty in their faces "Oh don't worry, it'll be perfectly safe" she said "Plus the rooms had been cleaned recently so you have nothing to worry about it"

"Just be careful in picking your rooms, you might end up in ol' Shang's bunk room where he'd been stabbed to death by an escaped convict" Peng said casually

"Peng!" Cynthia and Chang scolded the snake.

The Five and the Dragon Warrior looked among one another, a silent message being sent to one another.

"If you would please, just follow me" said Cynthia

VVV

The rooms weren't much to look at, but it was much more comforting than what they had in the Jade Palace. They noticed that their equipment had been put to the side of the hallway. From the far corner of the hall, a small light burned through the rice paper and soft humming could be heard from within it; It was probably Xiulan singing a lullaby to Su.

The six warriors went to their rooms of choosing (with careful hesitation due to the knowledge that one of them had been a murder spot); They had a very exhausting and rather... Unforgettable day. They'd been arrested and scarred for the rest of their lives in just one day... Only the heavens knew what would befall them tomorrow.

Tigress sighed deeply as she tried to make sense on their little situation. She and her team came here to Shanghai to catch a raving killer, expecting that this would be like any other missions they did; it was simply in _this_ particular order: Go to the place, get some information, find the criminal, kick his ass and go home. Not: Go to the place, get arrested for no reason, get humiliated by an arrogant know it all lion -who by the way was a complete stud!-, see a mangled body, throw up, and then go to sleep! No! _This _was completely different!

She was getting angry now. She unsheathed her claws and promptly clamped her clawed paw to the bed post, digging her claws deep into the wooden post. She then also realises that 'Officer Reed' and his pack arrogant, snobbish cops were at a loss and didn't know what to do... Okay, maybe that wasn't really fair to judge them like that. The female Panda, Cynthia was it? She seemed nice, and Po likes her. She didn't Know much about Peng though. And that Eagle, Rae... she looks mean... And a little bitchy when she talks. The striped master still couldn't believe that Crane had been somehow involved with her in the past, she may have to talk to the avian master about that sometime.

And then there was Chang, the unspoken leader of the four... He had really caught her off guard, literally. The very first time she met the lion he had pinned her down and cuffed her without a problem, which was again, unexpected. Earlier today she saw what this male was made of and she had to admit he was good enough to be a master of Kung Fu, and was also really good to look at when he's shirtless...

Wait...

What?!...

She bolted upright off her bed and began to pace back and forth in her room.

_Okay, focus Tigress, Focus! Don't think about him, Don't think about him. He's not important, __**this**__ mission is important. Whatever your body's telling you, whatever your brain is telling you, don't listen!_

_Never mind the fact that he's handsome... Or the fact that every time he talks it feels as though every hair on your body would stand on end... Or that when he looks at you with those calculating eyes of his it seems as though you're about to melt to the floor... Or... Or... How sculpted his body was... How he moves would send chills riding down your spine..._

As she let her mind wander, and her breath getting more strained, she felt a growing heat build from within her. The more she imagined him the more she wanted him to stay in her thoughts.

She remembered when he was shirtless. His chiseled chest rising and falling as he took breath. All that muscle, fur and power moving as one. She herself began to swear as well, she couldn't tell if it was only the room that began to get warmer or was it her ever growing need to be with the lion. Is _this_ what lusting felt like?

_No!_ She mentally yelled

_Pull yourself together! You don't need to be with him, you don't __**want**__ to be with him! Not now! Not ever! He's just another male! Nothing more! You're just working with him! Period! _

A knock from the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She could see the visitor's silhouette through the rice paper door, I didn't take much for her to find out who it was.

She opened the door and as if her lust ridden thoughts had summoned him, Chang stood there in from of her with an apologetic look on his face. He wasn't wearing his black shirt anymore, though he now adorned a green cotton vest that he usually wears went he's off duty.

"Officer Chang, Can I help you?" She asked in most softest way she could

"I just uh... Realized that I hadn't exactly apologized for what I did to you earlier today"

Tigress looked around the hall to see if anyone else was still awake, there were none.

"Is that the only reason why you went here?" She asked

"Oh I hope I hadn't disturbed you in any way" he replied, holding up his paws defensively

"No it is fine, I couldn't sleep anyway"

She noticed that he was smiling suggestively "Well, what a coincidence, I also couldn't sleep"

"I lot on your mind?"

"Stress from work" he said as he rubbed his temple to prove his point "What do you say we go to the lounge and help ourselves to some camomile tea, it might help us get some sleep"

"I'd like that" she answered before thinking about it.

His smile widened, Tigress felt the heat coming back again.

**Well Well Well, what is this? Tigress and Chang, alone in the lounge? This'll be interesting.**

**Find out at chapter 4! Be there!**

**R&R **

**I don't own anything (sans OCs and plot)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, a little heads up here: Swear words up ahead, viewer discretion (or in this case, reader discretion) please.**

**Don't own nothin' (Sans OCs and Plot)**

She needed to start thinking things through...

Tigress supressed a sigh as she watched Chang move about the lounge. The tiger master was sitting at the table as the lion hummed in a tune whilst keeping himself busy with the hot water and the camomile with his back turned on her; Once in a while he would bend over the counter to get something, and as if she couldn't help herself, Tigress kept stealing glances at his backside, and she was really liking what she was seeing, thoroughly.

Was she really that deprived of any male contact that very first attractive man that she meets her body would react in a way that she had never felt before? Its not as if she hadn't seen a good example of masculinity as she grew up through the years. She had many encounters with the opposite sex, in circumstances where Shifu would send The Five or even just herself out on missions, and along the way there were some males that catches her eye: Like the massive Siberian wolf that she had fought when she and her teammates had been sent to a village near the mountains. Or that dashing Bengal Tiger, who was a courtier of some sort, but was also quite droll when it came to conversation. And there was even a time she herself found Tai Lung interesting, though she would never admit that to anyone, not even if her life depended on it.

Now what about Chang? What's so special about him? Okay so they're both leaders that's something. Not to mention he was a man of the law, a do gooder, nice looks, gorgeous body, killer smile and a nice firm ass...

_Okay fine!_ She screamed mentally _He's a stud! He's hot! He's the most gorgeous man I've ever met! There I said it!_

"...That tea?"

"Mmh, what?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she finally tuned in and heard only the tail of his question, she was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed that he had seated himself just across from her.

"I said: Are you going to drink that tea?" He repeated warily "You've been staring into space for quite a while now, is everything all right Master Tigress?"

She looked down and saw the cup of tea that he had served for her, it wasn't steaming anymore but it was still hot.

"Everything is fine, Officer Chang" she said before taking a sip out of her cup, if not a little too fast to which had scalded her tongue making her wince visibly.

She wasn't aware that Chang was observing her. The lion neared his own cup to his lips, he let the aroma of the tea to waft up into his nostrils as he tasted the mild flavor on his tongue.

"Your nervous Master Tigress" he finally spoke "Why?"

Her eyes shot up to look at him "Why would you think that?" She asked

"Well, the fact that your ears kept twitching, a telltale sign of wariness, your eyes were darting from left to right as if something would just pop out of nowhere and get you. and your tail..."

Tigress looked down only to see her striped tail swishing uncontrollably. _Damn it!_ She cursed _Nice work Tigress! Next time, how about __**not**__ making a big fool of yourself!_

"It's probably just that goat we saw " she said

"Oh, yeah you'll get use to it" Chang reassured before taking another sip at his tea

"I don't think I _can_ get use to it. My stomach couldn't get use to it" she retorted, she heard him chuckle

"What's so funny?" She demanded

"Nothing, its just that someone as strong as you couldn't even stand to see a bit of blood"

"In case you hadn't noticed, that wasn't just a _bit_ of blood" she argued "It was a _pool_ of blood, and an eviscerated body hanging from the ceiling"

"Okay, you don't need rip out my throat for that" he said defensively, putting his paws up in the air for emphasis.

"And as for the killings... well, it's only a matter of time before we get this maniac off the streets" he added, taking another swig at his tea.

"Though until then, you and your team have _that_ time to get used to it"

She breathed deeply in an attempt to calm herself down. The tone of his voice spoke volumes to her. Was that a warning?

Then all of a sudden, she said: "I'm quite sorry for snapping at you Officer"

"Call me Chang" he said, his voice gruff and low "I'm not one for formality when I'm off duty"

"Okay, Chang" she said, pausing as if to contemplate wether or not she pronounced his name right.

"As great as it had been to spend some... Time with you over some tea, I myself had grown tired, I'll retreat to bed now" she stood up, leaving a half empty cup of camomile on the table

"Very well master Tigress" he stood up from his seat and disposed the cups into the wash basin.

"Just Tigress"

"Pardon?"

She paused near the door frame, her tail swishing uncontrollably.

"Just call me Tigress" damn it! Could she _feel_ anymore hot?

"Goodnight , Chang " she said softly before running off back to her room.

Chang stared after her in amusement, shaking his head ruefully and finished off the used tea cups.

"Goodnight indeed, Tigress "

VVV

A cool breeze swept through Rae's feathers as she looked throughout the city, deep in thought. She couldn't bring herself to sleep so she flew out of her window and made a short trip to the roof top of the station. She sighed as she went back on the events that happened today. The bandit attack, The murder, and of course, seeing her old flame.

It had been five whole years ever since they've lost each other's connection and now after a long time he just pops out of nowhere and she arrests him. Some reunion that turned out to be. But in all truth, she had actually missed Crane. She missed him so much. The day he had left the academy was the saddest she had ever been, he went without even saying goodbye, and that had hurt her.

And now, now he was back, and she didn't know wether or not to feel angry or Happy, though she was sure about one thing: she felt sadness. Sadness that took five years to ignore because she didn't want to feel the pain anymore, but now that the very reason for her heartache had returned she couldn't help it anymore as she sobbed; Streaks of saltwater flowed from her eyes as she whimpered softly, wishing for the pain to go away.

Her cries were soon drowned by the sound of wings flapping. Then she heard a crash, making her turn around. A slew of feathers flew towards her as a groan reached her hearing.

"*groan* stupid subtle night breeze"

She fought the urge let out a yell of frustration as she glared at the very reason of her loathing.

"What the hell are you doing here Crane! " she demanded harshly

"Good evening to you too" he replied cynically before collecting himself and managing to stand up.

"Did you follow me here? " she asked

Crane hesitated a bit "Yeah, I did" he walked up to her

"I was just wondering if we could talk"

She turned her back on him and coldly said "why?". Her voice cracked on her a bit, she was thankful that Crane didn't notice.

"Well we haven't seen each other for what? Five, Six years?" he heard her grunt, it's something.

"I mean I know I hadn't been the most perfect of _other-halves, _but the least we could do is talk this out"

She remained quiet, though to his relief she finally turned around to face him. He dared to take step closer to her.

"look, I wasn't happy about the way you acted earlier today, and I know you weren't happy about me either. But I don't want anymore hard feelings and Ill wills between the two of us... "

he stopped when he was almost beak to beak with her, she looked up at him as he was a head taller than her. Her eyes were glistening with tears.

"...I was a jerk for leaving you, and not a day goes by that I feel like the stupidest bird in the world. I know it is impossible for the two of us to get back together, but it would mean the world to me if I knew that this little scuffle between the two us can be left in the past."

He looked at her directly in the eyes. His expression sincere and pleading.

"And I know this is half a decade late, but I'm sorry" and there it was... "I'm sorry for leaving you. Please forgive me"

She didn't sat anything for a full two minutes. She just stood there, looking at him. Her silence unnerved him.

"Or just say something, anything- ack! "

Without warning, he found himself pinned to the ground by his neck. Rae's talons gripped at his fragile throat, her figure looming over him like a shadow.

"Forgive you? " she growled, increasing the pressure on his neck "Forgive you?! "

With an unknown burst of strength, she actually picked him up and thrown him back to the ground. Out of instinct, Crane managed to kick her on her right wing, she doubled over and backed off.

Rae immediately clutched her smarting wing. Try as she might but it easy too late, the first drops of tears we're already dripping off of her cheek. Then she let out sob.

Crane couldn't believe it. She was crying! Why was she crying?! Was it because of the kick? No, it couldn't be! He didn't even kicked that hard!. He was alarmed when the female eagle fell down, still clutching her wing and writhing in pain.

_Oh crap_ he thought

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Crane you insensitive jackass! What the hell did you do?! _

She was right by her without a second to lose.

"Rae? Are you all right? I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't mean it"

"Just leave me alone" she whimpered

"But Rae- "

"Just get the fuck outta here!"

Hesitantly, he backed away solemnly. With a heavy heart, he flew back to his bunk window, not wanting to look back.

VVV

Morning came...

As the city began to stir awake, an Ursane individual had already woke up not after the first rays of the sun had shined.

Cynthia woke up quiet early today. What with their guests still asleep upstairs, she wasted no more time and dashed towards lounge room and planned on cooking breakfast. But when she got there, she was greeted to a tone deaf song and a dancing panda.

_"Wake up everyone! How can you sleep at time like this unless the dreamer is the real you... "_

Cynthia pressed her paw against her mouth as she desperately tried to NOT laugh her tail off, which was next to impossible when you wake in the morning and see _this_ dancing in your kitchen. Po continued to sing as he effortlessly chopped a radish and added it to his noodles that he usually makes during breakfast, not noticing that he had an audience watching him.

The female panda didn't know if she could restrain herself any further. The fact that she actually knows this song isn't really helping. An idea suddenly came to her when her 'Favorite part' came up.

"_And I'll be finally there! And all the angels will be singing'-"_

_"ha-lala! Ha-lala! Ha-lala lo-love this! "_

upon hearing the unexpected second voice, Po got startled and accidentally threw the knife that he was currently holding and had somehow lodged itself to the ceiling. He then turned around to meet up with a pair of mischievous looking pair of eyes whose owners was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed.

The male panda blushed furiously, knowing that he had been caught in the act, and by a police officer no less.

"Er... Good morning officer..." he managed to say, some how talking to this woman was far more difficult than talking to Master Shifu. Cynthia didn't say anything back for a good minute.

"Is that my apron? " she asked suddenly.

Po looked down at the rather 'womanly' outfit, he blushed furiously.

"It er... was the only one I can find. I'm sorry " he answered warily, trying to pick himself up.

"You do realize that's a woman's apron" she pointed out. She knew she shouldn't enjoy herself this much with the other panda but she just couldn't help herself.

"It's fine" she dismissed then grabbed a spoon from the cupboards "What are you cooking?" she asked before filling her spoon with the broth from the pot to taste it.

"Its just some noodles that I usually cook every morning at the Jade Palace. " Po said, pride welling in his chest.

"Wow, this just... wow" was the only words that came from Cynthia when she tasted the broth.

"You like it? " Po asked, blushing slightly as the female panda moaned for his cooking.

"This is really good! 'course I like it! " that very state made Po very proud of himself.

"I'll have these noodles any day" She added before taking a seat at the table.

"Oh, well if I can make you moan like _that_ any day then I'm your panda! " he replied... a pause... his hands went numb as he almost dropped the ladle that he was currently holding. _Dammit Po! Can't you flirt with a girl without giving her a reason to rip your tenders out?!_

No, apparently he can't...

"Okay... let me rephrase that... " then he flinched.

Usually, after he flinches , a slap to the face was usually followed. But it never came, when he opened his eyes he saw that she was smiling, a suggestive look on her face made his spine stiff (Among other parts of his body).

"Well" she began "If you ever want somebody sampling your noodles again..." she trailed off, then got up from her seat and stood in front of him. If there was a time where Po could feel anymore aroused, well... this would be it.

"...you let me know" she finished in a seductive tone. Po could've sworn he almost swallowed his tongue right there.

Cynthia diverted her gaze at the pot of noodles that we're still boiling over the stove for a moment.

"You know you should turn down the fire a bit, it might turn the noodles too soggy" she said indifferently.

Snapping from his daze, he turned around and downed the fire on the stove.

"Good call" he complemented, thinking that everything was back to normal; that is until Cynthia suddenly went:

"I know. I for one prefer having my noodles... " she then leaned over to his ear, to which the male panda wasn't prepared for, and whispered "Firm"

"Hey guys! "

Po turned around to see that's new comer, thinking that he or she had caught what he and Cynthia were doing, or rather, what Cynthia was doing to him.

Unbelievably, as he turned around, he saw that Cyntia wasn't even anywhere near him. She was sitting at the table, casualy tapping her finger on the table as if nothing was going on between the two of them earlier.

As for the new comer, who turned out to be Peng, didn't even saw a glimpse.

"Morning, Peng" Cynthia greeted "Chang's not up yet? "

"Don't know, I haven't seen him yet. I went to his office and he wasn't there. Maybe he went home last night or something"

"What about Rae? " she asked

"Well, I _know_ she's awake. What I don't know is why she was crying"

Po, which was in the middle of serving the two officers a bowl of his noodles, stopped briefly to hear what they were talking about. Then as subtle as he could, he mosied on with the servings and at in the same time listening to their conversation. He knew he should not be doing that, but this Rae Han Li and _his_ friend Crane were somehow involved with each other, it couldn't hurt to atleast try to know what had happened between the two birds.

"What? Why was she crying? " Cynthia asked, showing concern for her friend

"I don't know, I never got to ask her. She's so not like that" Peng replied as he absentmindedly took a small sip from the bowl of noodles that Po had placed in front of him.

"This noodle soup is amazing! " He suddenly blurted out.

Po couldn't feel any more happier as he heard those words, he knew he was a good cook, but damn! Hearing it from somebody else (Other than his friends ) was quite satisfying.

At that moment, Chang had decided to show up. The smell of sweet savory broth drawing him in.

"Whoah! Whatever's cooking in hear is heavenly! " he spotted the pot on the stove "Give me some of that" he said, taking a seat on the table.

A bowl full of noodles appeared immediately as he sat down.

"Mmh! Smells great, Cynthia" the Lion complented.

"Oh that's not mine" said Cynthia, "You can thank Master Po for the wonderful breakfast "

Chang gave the Dragon Warrior a look, "_You_ cooked this? " he asked, Po nodded.

"Nice work my friend " he said with a smile before he resumed eating.

"Where's Rae?" Chang suddenly asked. Peng was about to answer when Cynthia suddenly cut the snake off.

"She wasn't feeling well today" she replied.

"I wouldn't blame her..." Po commented suddenly despite what he heard.

"I mean, after seeing that dead body anyone else would get sick the next day" he added.

"huh..." Chang said "_That's _so not like her"

Loud footsteps had suddenly caught their attention, directly from the hallway. Within seconds, an annoyed Master Tigress and four still drowzy warriors stood in the door frame; though Crane looked a bit more restless than the others. The tiger master was giving the panda an angry look.

"Morning!" came Cynthia's greeting, to which Tigress had ignored.

"You could've told us where you are!" Tigress seethed

"Tigress we're in Shanghai hunting down a killer, where else am I supposed go? " the Panda challenged despite the bitter disposition of tiger master.

"Exactly!" she said "There is a killer on the loose and you decided to just go for a stroll all willy nilly? "

"Hey, I did not **go for a stroll **as you delicately put, okay? I woke up early and-"

"-decided to treat me and my team here with some his famous noodle soup" Chang finished for him.

"Yes...er?

Chang cut him off again "Actually, it is quite timing that you and your team decided to show up right now, Master Tigress" he brought out a file and placed it on the table.

"What's this? " Peng asked, reaching for the file to read it.

"Mr. Gao's background profile" Chang answered

"And why do we this? " mantis asked

"Sometimes it pays to know _why_ this person was killed" said Cynthia "It could pretty much lead us to the killer's motives"

"And if we compared it to the other killings he did we could very well figure out how, when and where he strikes" Peng followed.

Tigress went over to see the file for herself as did the rest of the five. Written in the file was Mr. Gao's personal information, from his biography to his former occupation from before he had retired from it. There were also prison records, though nothing big, he was once arrested for minor larceny, no reason for the killer to target him.

"Says here that he was once a war veteran" Peng said

"Wait so, this guy's killing people that had once served the imperial army?" Mantis inquired

"No" Chang said "The other people that he'd killed weren't war veterans"

"We can't just rule out that this killer's a crazy psycho butchering people for sport" said Peng

"That's right" Cynthia spoke up "This one is a little too smart for a slaughtering maniac. He has to have a motive"

"Did you find anything else on the body?" Crane asked

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did" she pulled something out of her pocket, a tiny glass jar, of all things. There were a few tufts of fur in it, a shade of gray and white with a bit of red around its tips, probably blood no doubt.

"Found it inside of Mr. Gao" she set the jar down on the table for her teammates to examine.

"I've compared it with every single sample I have, took almost midnight to find a match" she paused for a beat "Its Siberian Wolf fur"

"That makes sense" Tigress spoke up "It had to be a very big animal for it to carry the body into the bedroom"

"You seem to know your Cannid species, Master Tigress" Chang told her

"We fought a lot of those guys at the mountains, about a year back" said Viper, Peng perked up as hears this.

"Wait, you're not talking about the _'Opium raid of June', _are you?" Peng asked her

"Yes, I am"

His face immediately adapted a look of surprise. He remembered that little episode; _The Opium raid of June _was probably the biggest stake out that ever happened in China. It was lead by a drug lord (Strangely enough, he was a Siberian Wolf) and what seemed like an army of hoodlums that were smuggling Opium into the country using a route that runs through the mountain range of the Himalayas, though it wasn't the safest way to go it was actually a blind spot on the Chinese border. Peng and the whole Shanghai Police Department were supposed to do a well organized stake out that involved a lot of timing and strategic thinking, They even had a name of the whole operation: 'Mountain High' (Lame name for an operation I know).

"That was you?! " Peng exclaimed, startling everyone in the room, save for Chang and Cynthia. You see, Once the Whole department received word of the 'Heroes' that fearlessly faced the drug lord and his drones, putting an end to the Opium production, nobody was more disappointed than Peng.

"I _cannot_ believe you're still on that" Chang said wryly.

"I wanted to kick some ass that day!" the snake reasoned.

"Okay, could we please stay on topic here" Cynthia scolded them both.

"Now, we've come to know that this psycho is a Wolf, hurray for us. All we need to know now who this guy is, what are his motives and how are we going to stop him"

The room remained silent for a few minutes.

"Well" Peng spoke up "If anyone knows anything about motives, that would be Rae"

A knock on the lounge door caught their attentions. There, standing in the door frame was the mentioned eagle. Crane silently gulped, the events that happened between the two of them last night flashed in his head. Absentmindedly, he slowly brought a wing to his throat, which was still sore from her talons.

"Someone say my name?" she asked rhetorically.

"Rae!" Cynthia chirped cheerfully.

"Nice of you to join us Officer Li" Chang greeted out of formality.

The eagle said nothing as she entered the room, not even sparing the Five a glance. Crane stared after her. Still clutching his throat, he opened his bill to talk then decided against others and just kept it shut.

Peng observed her as she came. There was something quite off about Rae today. Knowing her for two years, she's never slept in before, let alone cry. He knows Rae for doing a lot of things, and crying isn't one of them.

Suddenly Peng's gaze went over to Master Crane, who was clutching his throat with a wing. Despite the dark feathers around it, Peng spotted something just beneath the bird's bill, a bruise perhaps. And he also noticed that a few feathers were sliced from the top, as if something sharp had cut them. Like... talons...

The realization hit the snake instantly. _It all makes sense now! _He thought. _Oooh boy, what the hell did you do to deserve __**that?! **_He mentally added, in the same time praying for his behalf that Crane wouldn't be sent to a hospital, or better yet a morgue.

**And cut there! Hello everyone, I hope you liked this chapter. Thousand pardons for the long wait, college life is really hard. **

**Spoiler alert: Keep an eye on our beloved Rae the eagle because she has a particular role on this story that might surprise you. **

**Pls R&R. **

**Greetings from the Philippines: Cookboss88**

.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm trying to update as fast as I could this time but I cannot guarantee the frequencies though. But anyway, after a very long wait, here's chapter 5. Please read and review. **

This chapter is going to revolve around Peng and Viper and a next particular character or pairing will be the center of the next one. This is how the flow of the story will go from now on. That approach might sound familiar to TWD fans.

Two days had passed, it became completely quiet all of a sudden but Chang's team and the Furious Five kept their wits up. Chang seemed to be stumped, the trail of the psychopath that they were supposed to be tracking down had gone cold. Cynthia had found no further evidence on the body and a notice had already been sent to the city morgue to pick Mr. Gao's headless body to be burned. Rae failed to pinpoint the killer's motives, her teammates couldn't blame her, with the lack of information that they have it would be a complete miracle if she ever came up with a conclusion. And also, Peng could see that ever since The Dragon Warrior and The Furious Five got here, Rae had been very depressed. The snake had never seen her like this, maybe that Master Crane had something to do with it. It wasn't really hard to see the tension between these two birds, it was after all his job.

As a Psycho forensic analyst, it was up to him to profile a criminal's behavior, to get into his or her mind to find out how it works. But somehow, this current case was a complete mystery to him. He couldn't give a proper look at how this guy thinks, so far all his analysis led to 'criminally insane'. But of course he knew that! No sane person can kill like this!

That's why he's now at the station archives, going through past case files to see if there was anything here to link the killer with, Or at least find a criminal profile that matches the one that they were looking for. He heard a loud sneeze come from Master Crane, apparently the dust that had collected in the the archives made his allergies act up, causing the bird a sneezing fit.

It wasn't just him and Master Crane that were here; both his team and the rest of the Furious Five were also there, to which Peng wasn't too happy about. He's done these sort of things alone, and it had been that way ever since he got his job here.

"Stinking allergies" he heard Crane mutter as he continued to look through files.

Peng sighed and searched on, thinking about other peoples problems was not going to help. So, he thought about his own problems, which he seems to be doing quite often these days.

Homeless and Heartbroken, but I'm a smartass serpent that knows Kung Fu and I have friends that look out for me... Which is nice.. But still...

"So what exactly are we looking for in here?"

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Master Viper suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He failed to notice her when she slithered to him. He tried to register her question, he knew the answer, but all that came out was "Wuh?"

The female snake sighed, "What exactly are we looking for?" she repeated as clearly as she could.

His face flushed out of embarrassment, knowing that he had just made a fool of himself, and in front of one of the members of the Furious Five no less.

"I'm sorry, I er... Have a lot of things in my head recently"

She surprised him by saying: "Like what?"

"A lot... " he put in a very deep emphasis on that, to which Viper took it as a 'Just drop it!' signal.

"Oh... "

Everything went quite for a moment, save for the sound of paper ruffling as they continued to look through endless columns of files.

"You haven't answered my question yet" Viper told Peng. The latter took in a deep breath before facing her.

"This place is where we keep every case file that the department had recorded. Every Criminal that we've encountered is in here, and everything that criminal has done"

"Got any crazy ones in here?"

The way she asked that casually sort of surprised him, but he answered anyway. He pulled a file from the top right shelf and handed it to her.

"Lo Wei: Convicted murderer, rapist, frustrated assault and attacking a police officer" he said, without reading the file

"Wow" was only word the other snake could say, to both Peng and the convict. She stared at the picture of the perp; a dirty looking pig with probably the most ugliest mug she's ever seen, either that or the artist that sketched this picture sucks at his job.

"He attacked a police officer?" she actually sounded worried.

"Yup"

"Anyone that you know?"

"Me and Cynthia"

"He attacked two officers?"

"that's right... Well he was a sexual deviant, he groped Cynthia when were in the interrogation room" he smirked a quietly as he reminisced the memory.

"And once you do that, not even the Emperor can save you from one of Cynthia's beatdowns" he spied Lo Wei's picture "I actually feel sorry for the bastard" he then returned to looking through files.

Viper was left to her thoughts, she spotted Cynthia at far corner of the room reading a case file, then Po passed by making bearish grunts as he carried a box containing who knows what. And ever so slightly, Viper caught the female panda's eyes turn and stopped just below and at Po's posterior (*his ass). Cynthia smiled with a naughtiness that Viper found quite unusual. Though, with Po as her only example, she never had a faint idea of how pandas behave, especially if an opposite gender of his species was involved.

At the time she spent training with Po, she hasn't seen the panda interact with any woman, not even once. She actually confronted Po about that, she had never seen Po act so awkwardly before! He kept stuttering, sweating and making excuses just to get away from this talk. Eventually though, he confessed that he never had any experience with anything that had to do with dating whatsoever.

To think that their little talk would just stop there? No, Viper asked why, and with the most defeated voice he answered: "What girl would want to risk her life having a guy crush her every time she tries to make-out with him?"

It broke her heart to hear that from him, from Po! The most happy-go-lucky person she's ever known! She'd just hope that whatever kind of woman Cynthia is, she would go easy on Po's heart. She worries for the panda, and seeing someone like him getting his heart broken is just too sad for anyone to witness!

Viper wistfully shook her head. She knew that she shouldn't be thinking about anybody else's love life, though what would one expect from a hopeless romantic like her?.

Romance novels? She has those! Fantasies about herself and some ruggedly handsome snake sweeping her off her feet? -so to speak- oh hell yes!.

Viper was a hopeless romantic, in every sense of the word!. None of her friends blame her though, it's not like she's getting ANY romance back at the valley! Being the only snake there, she only had limited options. She can't date her teammates that would be too awkward! Plus she sorta considers them as brothers. There WERE some snakes that came to the valley, but they were either leaving too early or just some ass-wipe looking for a fling.

The very first snake that she met in a long time was just a mere two feet away. And he didn't seem interested in her; either that or she's just losing her looks...

'Oh screw it!' she yelled in her thoughts before reviewing another file. Lonely or not, they still have a lot of work to do.

VVV

Several hours later, both teams packed up the files, failing to find anything similar to the psycho that they were after.

"I'm going to the lounge" Chang said, brushing his paw through his mane in a frustrated manor.

"Me too" Cynthia followed suit, but not before turning to the six masters. "You guys wanna go with? I'm making bean buns" she offered.

Unsurprisingly, Po got up in a heartbeat with the mere mention of food, making Cynthia chuckle in delight.

The Tigress and the rest of the five shrugged and followed after.

Rae, with her usual keenness, spotted Peng at the far corner of the room, still reading away.

"Peng, are you coming?"

Peng only gave an uninterested grunt, to which Rae perceived as a no, so she followed the others.

Somehow, Viper ended up being the last to go. She was eager to get to the lounge, apparently having to go through dusty shelves of criminal files for hours got her hungry. She was about to exit the room when she heard Peng spoke.

"Close the door" he ordered in an unnervingly calm tone.

She turned around, a bit surprised that he had just ordered her. And also, a bit nervous as to why the door needed to be closed. A couple of scenarios popped up in her head, one of which filled her with a heat of emotion and a slight feeling of cold fear.

"What?..."

"I said close the door" he repeated, more stern this time.

They were practically alone at that very moment, Viper realised that just now. Her heartbeat began to go faster and her body went rigid, But despite all that, she still managed to move and slowly closed the door.

"L-look..." her voice was practically shaking, "I-I know that you're pent up, but you don't have to do this..."

Peng looked to her direction, his brow raised in an inquisitive fashion. He wondered as to what she meant by him being 'Pent up'. And what was she doing standing there with that look on her face.

Finally having enough, he put back where it belonged and slithered towards her.

"I said close the door-"

"I-I already did"

"-When you leave!"

It took her half a minute to register that. Once she did, her only response was "Wuh?"

"Close the door when you leave" he repeated, a bit more clearly this time.

"Oh..."

Awkward was pretty much the only word that could describe this moment. Flushed and feeling ridiculous, she opened the door behind her, went out and through the hallway that lead to the lounge.

Peng shook his head ruefully, though he had to admit, he was amused. As to what was on her mind at that moment, he would never know. He could take a guess but it'll just make him look like a pervert.

And also, she actually looked kinda cute when she blushed.

Quick to rid of these thoughts, reminding himself that situations like these is what got him this funk. No, he wasn't going into any of that for a good long while.

VVV

Nightfall...

He waited... Waited until the snake was all alone, then he'll make his move.

He sat there on the roof of a building right next to the station. As it was a moonless night, his black cloak hid him effectively. He observed the snake as if he was his prey, moving around in the room, oblivious about his presence. Gripping his axe tighter around his hand as he imagined spilling the snake's guts, tasting that reptilian blood on his weapon. He was decisive, he knew what he wanted to hunt as soon as the sun had set. The pig that he had butchered and the others that he killed before wasn't enough, he wanted more blood, more insides! And more they scream, struggle and fight the better! Weak prey wasn't his type.

Just as he suspected, the snake was left alone in the room and undoubtedly, with the door locked from the inside. Perfect.

VVV

'Yan Lao: a loan shark who stabbed and dismembered eight in Chengdu.'

'Chen Lang: serial rapist from Hebei responsible for 15 murders'

'Huang Zao: Mercilessly killed a prostitute in Henan'

'Zang Ren Shi: AKA "The Poison Bath Murderer" Killed and dismembered two children and dissolved their parts insides a barrel filled with Lye and other chemicals'

Peng shuddered at the last one. Quickly finding himself another stack of files to review. He's been in here alone for an hour and half and yet he still haven't found anything related to the killer!

'I mean, C'mon!' Peng yelled mentally, 'Big Bad Wolf, uses an axe, favorite style of killing is evisceration! C'mon you know this!'

It wasn't that he's frustrated because he can't find a matching case file of the psycho. He's frustrated because he can't figure him out.

Never in his entire career that this had ever happened. His pride still held denial, even though it was painfully obvious, that he was stumped.

Hell! He actually wished that the maniac would just show himself right now in an attempt to kill him, just so he knew how this guy does his killings. Well, he'd be dead in a pile of bloody mess but at least he would know!

Glass shattered from behind him, Then something just wizzed by his head and a thud echoed throughout the room.

His reflexes kicked it, though a little late, he jumped off his seat just before the throwing knife had embedded itself to the wall.

"Shit!" he cursed. He really needed to stop and think about the wishes he makes.

The knife came flying out of nowhere, meaning that another one might come at any moment. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of something dashing around the windows; whoever this guy was, he was fast.

Peng couldn't believe it! He's here! The psycho is here trying to kill him! And he was facing him alone. The maniac must've known he'd be alone here, Peng had a hunch that this guy had been waiting patiently. Fucking Creep!

Another knife flew through the window, but Peng saw that coming. He dodged the knife and swiftly slithered towards the door, there was no way in hell that he could face this guy alone! But before he could even turn that knob, another knife embedded itself right between the door-frame and the door itself, narrowly missing his neck by a few inches.

He tried to open it again, only to find that it was stuck! The knife jammed it!

He changed tactics, he focused on the knife. He tried to pull it out, bit it was no use, it was too deep into the wood.

The killer let fly another knife, and this time it nicked the side of Peng's face before the blade pierced the door all the way to its hilt.

Peng was running out of options, he needed help. The lounge was at least two floors below from where he was, but if he made enough noise Chang and the others might hear the commotion. He knew himself that he can't pry that door open, but anyone of them could tear the door from outside.

Spotting a chair by the file shelf, he dodged another knife that came close to his head before wrapping his tail on one of the chairs legs and threw it towards one of the file cases. The collision was loud, anyone wouldn't have any trouble hearing that. But he knew no one wasn't going to his aid right away, he has to make more noise.

Then a louder, and more solid crash was heard. It almost startled Peng out his wits, he didn't bother to look what made it, or rather, he didn't have any time to turn his head as the blade of the axe nearly hit his skull. It instead it hit its mark on the floor.

He quickly slithered away from the weapon, still shaken at the realisation of how close he was to from getting severed.

All of a sudden, everything went eerily quiet. He was gone; The 'Predator' had abandoned his 'Prey'.

Though, he knew he was alive, he still couldn't get over the feel of a near death experience. The serpent's face paled, he felt as if he wanted to faint. Or throw up, whichever comes first.

He observed the room. The first thing that he could NOT fail to notice (or rather, pretend that it wasn't there) was the huge war-axe with its blade buried into the wooden floorboards. It could have easily been him; That axe could have severed him two, if it weren't for his years of training.

A bang came from the jammed door.

"Peng!"

It was Chang! He tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge.

"Peng, open the door!" The Lion demanded

"I can't!" he yelled back, "Just kick it down!"

"Peng!" it was Cynthia! She sounded worried "Sweetie, are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, Cynthia don't worry I'm fine" though the filing room had surely seen better days.

VVV

After Peng had explained the incident to his team, The Furious Five and The Dragon Warrior, Chang sent Tigress, Monkey and Viper to scout the perimeter of the building, while Po, Mantis and Crane stayed behind.

Cynthia fussed over the cut on Peng's cheek, the snake assured her that it was merely a scratch, nothing to be worried about.

"Oh bullshit!" she snapped loudly, enough to make everyone in the room flinch.

"That is not a scratch, Peng! That is a goddamned cut on your face!" she scolded before taking a few short breaths to calm herself down. Taking a cotton swab from her kit, she gently dabbed the cut on his cheek with antiseptic.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you had just went with us to the lounge" she told him.

"Hey, it's not my fault this happened" Peng winced slightly as the antiseptic stung his cut.

"I mean, it's not like I know what he's planning"

"None of us do" Rae pointed out as she observed the axe.

"Which pretty much begs the question: why the hell would he attack you directly?" she added, still not looking away from the axe.

"Man..." said Po, who was leaning against the remnants of the door frame after having Tigress kick the door down.

"This guy's gotta be really crazy to do that"

"That's why we use the term 'Criminally insane' for a reason" Came Mantis' retort, to which Po responded to by giving the bug an annoyed look. The miniscule master took his perch on a table, also observing the scene.

"We don't use that term very often Master Mantis"

Both males looked towards Chang, who was by the windows observing the broken glass. He sounded quite stern when he spoke, a sternness that made Mantis feel sheepish.

"I hope you understand that we don't just pass a criminal as an insane person, sometimes these people actually have a reason to why they do the things they do" He lectured.

"Oh... I'm sorry" It felt strange that Mantis was apologizing, he doesn't really do that very often.

"No harm done Master Mantis" he said before setting his attention to Peng.

"Now then, Peng, where were you exactly when the first knife appeared?"

Peng pointed to the far corner of the room. Chang immediately stood on the spot, he was now facing the wall that has the knife handle sticking out of it.

"Now if I were you and I were standing here, my back will probably be turned on to the windows"

He turned around, and sure enough he looking directly to where the killer had been. All of the windows were broken, there were three openings, and exactly where the axe was embedded was the most damaged one. He could only imagine how much strength this guy has to do something like that.

"Hey guys" Rae called, she was still fixated on the axe, she seemed to be looking at something.

"Look at the handle"

On the handle, was a piece of paper wrapped around the handle's length with a string that was securing it in place.

Cynthia quickly finished treating Peng's cut before making her way towards the axe.

Mantis scuttled closer to see better

"it's a note" he announced "We see these types of messages all the time, and usually whatever is written on them is never a good thing"

Despite of what he said, Rae plucked the note from the the axe anyway.

"'I will not stop...'" she read the note out loud. "'Until I get what I want. The snake lives... For now'"

It went eerily silent for a moment, till Crane spoke up for the first time since they got here.

"Was that all?" he asked

"Uh no, there's a little tidbit here saying that your next" she said with a shrug.

Crane had immediately paled as soon as he heard it. He felt lightheaded all of sudden, and he felt as if he was losing the feeling of his spindle like legs.

Then Rae decided to throw him a bone before he fainted right there.

"Just kidding!" she snorted at Crane, who was now harboring a hateful glare at the eagle.

"Not funny!" Crane exclaimed, clutching his chest with a wing.

"Oh get over it Storko! I was just screwing with ya!"

"Wouldn't be the first" He huffed, Rae chose to ignore it.

Tigress, Monkey and Viper arrived in the file room a minute later.

Chang addressed them first.

"Find anything?" he asked, but in the back of his mind he already knew what her answer was.

"Nothing" she answered.

"No hair or hide" Said Monkey "The guy covered his tracks well"

"Have you covered everywhere? How about the west alley?"

"No, we found nothing"

Viper paid little attention to the conversation, instead she took her attention on Peng, who seems to be pondering about something. She herself couldn't find a good reason why she wanted to talk with him.

"You okay?"

He sent her a dry glare.

"Hmm... Let's see. I was ambushed and nearly got my head severed by an axe" he sarcastically pointed out.

"So yeah, I feel wonderful"

Normally she'd snap back at him but, her kind and caring side told her to take it easy on him. The poor guy almost died, for the record.

"Look..." she began "I probably can't tell you that overused phrase 'I know how you feel', but-"

He cut her off.

"Save it Viper", he sighed deeply "The first time I took this job, I already knew what I got myself into. That someday, I might get killed from doing this"

"Must have been really scary the first time"

He surprised her by saying: "It still is"

"But I thought-"

"Thought that what? I'd get used to it by now?"

"No, I thought that you being in this type of job, you would've build a tolerance to fear"

He leaned closet to to her and with the most serious tone he can use, he spoke.

"You can NEVER build a tolerance for fear Master Viper. You can never get rid of it, so instead..."

He back away, much to her relief.

"...You're just gonna have to learn to understand it"

Despite the quick beating of her heart, she managed to look baffled at his statement.

"'Understand fear'?" she asked.

"Yes, exactly. You see Master Viper, the notion that fear is a sign of weakness is wrong, in fact fear can actually save your life"

He observed her, she didn't get it. He sighed before continuing.

"You gotta understand that fear is not necessarily a weakness, rather, it denotes one's will to survive"

He knew he got his point across just by looking at her change of expression.

"I feared for my life tonight" he confessed "I feared that if he succeeded in killing me, then he'll have no problem killing Cynthia. Or Rae. Or even Chang. I fear for their safety"

Viper said nothing, the he talked about fear made her realise something. Something that her team should have looked through when they first saw Mr. Gao's body.

And as if Peng could read her mind, he voiced her thought out loud.

"I just hope, for you and your team's sake, that you're fully aware of you got yourselves into"

**Aaaannnd... Cut there! **

**Sorry for the long wait everyone! The last months of 2014 had been hectic for me. **

**A little insight about our chapter here. I had to research a lot about criminal profiling and criminology, though rewatching episodes of Criminal Minds helped me a little.**

**And yeah, some of the serial killers mentioned in this chapter is actually based on real people. **

**The notorious "Acid Bath Murderer" John George Haigh (July 24, 1909 — August 10, 1949) was one of them. He was convicted of the murders of six people, although he claimed to have killed a total of nine, dissolving their bodies in sulphuric acid before forging papers in order to sell their possessions and collect substantial sums of money. He acted under the mistaken belief that police needed a body before they could bring a charge of murder. As a consequence, he was convicted through forensic evidence and executed on August 10, 1949.**

**And I hope you enjoyed the little moment between Viper and Peng. **

**Please if anything needs to be fixed or anything, let me know in a constructive way. **

**Thank you and have a good 2015!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Little side note here: this chapter is gonna revolve around our favorite panda! Written in his point of view! And also, MAJOR fluff scenes up ahead, and less crime fighting action. Sorry but I think I should give that side of the story a rest, after all this fic also has romance written in the genre.**

**Please R&R! :)**

'I will not stop, until I get what I want'

Reminds me of someone I once fought, only... A bit more psychotic.

You know, as awesome as it feels to be chasing a murderer in Shanghai, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. If the eviscerated corpse was any indication.

I just sat there at the corner, watching Chang, Tigress and everyone else sort out the victims list. It was Officer Rae's idea, saying there might be some sort of pattern within the killing spree. I think that's just a waste of time!

Don't get me wrong though. This approach makes a lot of sense, but... How much more people were to get murdered just until they have enough clues to catch the killer?

But of course, I don't have the heart (or the nerve) to voice that aloud.

If I can be honest, I may be this Warrior of Legend, destined to bring peace and beat down evil forces with my awesome Kung Fu. But after seeing how ugly the world can get, and seeing Chang and his team at work in these situations , I realized that that Kung Fu doesn't have anything to do with all of this.

I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched, I turned to my right and my eyes met up with Cynthia, who was sitting on a chair behind a desk with a bottle of ink and a brush in her right paw.

She's been doing that a lot lately. I don't know if my friends noticed it. I'm assuming Viper noticed the way Cynthia was acting.

She smiled at me for some reason, and then I found myself smiling back. I didn't know why but it did feel comfortable. All too soon she went straight back to work, writing another name in the list.

You know, ever since I've found out about my past, where I came from, who my parents were; it's kinda cool to meet another member of your species, especially if you lived your whole life knowing that you're the only panda in the village. Until now, it felt kinda lonely being the only one. I remember countless of times my dad used to set me up on blind dates, only having said dates to end badly.

Then there was that 'Talk' I had with Viper; It felt so awkward the whole time we talked. I know she's just trying to help me out but still.

I eventually told her the reason why I don't go out much on dates. And we just left it at that.

Now... Well, now that I've met Cynthia, I suddenly feel a lot less lonely.

But there's just one tiny problem; the very first panda I meet and she's a girl... Great! I just have to summon my charmer skills and- oh no, wait, I have none! Perfect!

Was there some kind of a curse that was laid on me the day I was born? I mean come on! How many women have I asked out on a date without any help from anyone? That would be... None.

Viper said I was a catch, she said that not many men in China can cook and be kind and sweet like me. But I don't think Cynthia is into guys like me. Though the way she acts around me says otherwise; one example was when she caught me the other day at the lounge while I was singing and cooking. I never felt so... Actually I don't know what to call that feeling yet, but if I'm gonna take a wild guess, I'd call it terrified with a bit of attraction at the same time.

The things she said to me that morning, I don't know if she's messing with me in revenge for using her apron or she's actually interested in me. Well, the last one is just a product of wishful thinking.

I mean come on! Look at her!

She's cute, smart and clever. Plus, that punch she gave me the day we arrived was epic! And painful. Which means she knows Kung Fu! I think... I wasn't able to see her form properly, and her fist colliding with my nose made sure that I hadn't.

Her looks are... Well... being a panda like her, I'd say she looks good. In fact, she looks... Pretty... Beautiful even. And I guess her figure is... Well... What any guy would call 'Pleasantly Plump'

Or how Mantis would word it: "She's all about that Bass!"

To me... She's just... Just...

"Okay!" someone exclaimed all of a sudden, bringing me out of my thoughts.

It was Officer Rae, maybe she found something.

"Our latest victim, Mr. Gao, a sixty-eight year old man, served the Imperial Army for twenty years and got arrested for minor larceny" she announced, everyone else was listening in.

"He was released ten years later. His trail went cold after that" she then addressed Peng.

"Peng, your findings?" she asked.

Peng opened up a file and began reading it.

"I got a 'Bao Nu' here" he said

"He was the twelfth victim, right before Mister Gao. He's twenty-eight years old, born in the Yunnan province, migrated here about five years ago. Holds no known Criminal Records"

VVV

The listing went on until the very first victim. I can't believe it; thirteen victims. How much more people was this guy going kill before we catch him?

Suddenly I feel like I wanna see this guy! I wanna find this guy, teach him a lesson and bring him to justice! Whoever this guy was, he's going down!

Wow, I never got to see this side of me before. All this anger and frustration is really getting to me!

Either that or I'm just a very hungry panda.

And speaking of hungry, it was getting late. I look outside the window and I saw that the night lanterns had already been lit. I haven't noticed that we've been inside this room for the whole day. I guess solving crimes and catching criminals can take a lot of time.

I look over to my friends, they looked tired. Even Tigress didn't look any good, and she has the most endurance in the six of us!

Though Chang's team didn't look any better. Peng was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Officer Rae took a sip of her oolong tea that Cynthia had prepared an hour ago, just to keep herself awake. And Chang yawned behind his paw.

Have we really been in here that long?

VVV

Finally we wrapped up our findings, turns out all of the victims had one helluva relation. All the thirteen victims were part of a twenty people court jury from a trial! We now have lead!

Rae and Chang decided to stay behind to look into some details, Tigress and Viper volunteered to help. The rest of the five went to their rooms to sleep. As for me...

I'm gonna get something to eat! Did I mention I was hungry?

As I went down the stairs to the lounge, I immediately picked up a very pleasant smell. Savor, spice, beans, chickpeas. Curry? And there was something else, something buttery...

I let my nose guide me to where that awesome smell was coming from and sure enough, the trail lead me to the lounge where the smell was stronger and the sound of someone humming was louder.

Wait... Humming?

I stepped inside and I noticed someone standing in front of the stove. I didn't have to guess who it was; I knew that this was Cynthia's territory, she cooks all of her team's meals, and didn't she say that she's going down here to cook? Hm... Must've missed it. Her back was turned to me, so I guess she doesn't know that I'm here.

She was humming a very soft tune, a very inviting one at that. The spices wafted in the air as she moved around the counter top chopping garlic and mixing ingredients. She wore the very same apron from that day, along with a light blue Chinese blouse and a pair of brown trousers; the apron was wrapped around her waist and tied with a bow down at the small of her back. I fought back the urge to drool, I don't know if it was her that's making me or if it was the food. Honestly, I hope it's the food.

You know I never got to look at her in this light before, seeing her this way now, it temporarily made me forget that she was a police officer, and right now I don't see that. I see a very beautiful girl, a gentle, beautiful and graceful girl that knows how to cook.

Then my stomach suddenly growled and knocked me back to reality.

Wow... Was I really crushing that hard?

My stomach growled again, louder and more obnoxious this time. So much so that Cynthia had managed to hear it.

She turned around and she saw me. At first she was surprised then her expression softened up significantly. I felt my cheeks burn up when she gave me a knowing smile.

"You hungry?" she asked, all I could do as a response was nod.

"Sit down, I'll get you a plate"

I did as she said. She continued to hum as she prepared my serving. About a minute later she placed a steaming hot plate in front of me.

The smell! Oh wow! It smelled heavenly!

All those spices just attacked my senses. She placed a soft hand on my shoulder and said "Hope you like curry with chickpeas"

Curry... It had to be curry. The woman knew my weakness. Well. ANYTHING that concerns food is my weakness.

She lifted her hand away and went towards the dish rack, probably to serve herself. I noticed on the side of my plate that there was a piece bread glistening with what I think was melted butter.

That did it for me. So I took my spoon, picked up the bread, shoveled a few chickpeas on to it and I drove in.

And then let out an over the top moan, as in 'Mmmf!'. I know the smell was good but the way it tasted was... Was... Awesome!

Another plate landed beside me as Cynthia pulled the chair and she sat down. Smiling tenderly, she took her piece of bread and dipped it in the curry sauce before taking a bite.

That's it... Now I love her.

"You like it?" she asked, her mouth still partially full. To which I found to be unreasonably cute!

"Uhuh..." I answered stupidly.

"Thanks" she replied before she went back to eat.

The whole time we ate we didn't talk much. But in the middle of it all I stole glances at her when I'm sure she wasn't aware, and then she'll return the favor by glancing back at me.

Eventually we were done after the second serving. She was putting away our plates in the wash basin get cleaned up. I can't go to bed just, I didn't want to. The longer I looked at her, the more I wanted to just stay here and be with her.

There wasn't much for her to wash, just two of the plates we used and a few utensils. But I couldn't restrain myself, I strode up to her and said: "Need a hand with that?"

And strangely enough she accepted my offer. She grabbed a dish rag and gave it to me.

"You're in charge of drying" she commanded playfully. And I proceeded to do so.

"Thanks for the curry" I told her.

"Best one I've had in a long time"

She blushed visibly, I acted like I didn't notice.

"Thanks, It's nice to know that someone enjoys it other than the other people I cook for" she rinsed off the first plate and handed it to me.

"You're a really good cook" I dried off the the plate and returned it to the dish rack.

"Oh stop it!" she bashfully waved me off.

"No really, you are" I insisted. One of the many things my said about girls is that complementing them will make them like you. So far, I think it's working.

"And you are such a flatterer!" she replied back as she began lathering the second plate.

"You know..." she started "It feels good talking to you"

"Really? I'm just happy to see another panda" okay, that did NOT sound sad at all.

She looked at me funny "Really? Aren't there any pandas at the Valley of Pease?"

"I'm sorta the only one"

"Oh. So you're adopted?"

I sighed, she picked that up immediately.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line"

"No no it's fine" I reassured her. She nodded once and we let the sloshing of the water be the only sound in the room.

"What about here?" I gestured outside "I mean, are there other pandas here?"

"Including me? Well, one... " her shoulders dropped slightly.

"Oh" So much for asking "So your adopted too Huh?"

"What?" she sent me a confused look, as if I had just suddenly grew another head.

"Oh! So... You're not...?" open mouth, insert foot.

She let out a laugh despite herself. And me.

"No! My family is back at Peking" she said gently, "I moved here about five years ago when I was training for the academy. I was only Nineteen when I moved here"

She finished off the second plate and gave to me to dry it.

"And by the Time I graduated, I was twenty three. It was also the time I specialized in forensic analogy" she proudly puffed up her chest.

"That's Awesome" I Commented.

She sniffed through her nose "Thanks".

"So like, you know Kung Fu?"

"Yup! But most of what I know came from my Baba"

"Really? What form?"

And as soon as those words flew out of my mouth. She suddenly lunged at me with an open palm strike. My reflexes kicked in and I managed to block it, but I got blind sided and I failed to notice her other paw as it made contact with my chest, I got blown back about a couple of feet from where I'm standing.

She approached me by putting her right foot forward and she swung her left leg and did a spin. Her arm was outstretched, swinging it at me with a clenched fist. I was ready that time, so as she went in to punch, I blocked her strike again. I saw her other paw a second earlier and managed to block that as well.

She recoiled and took a step back. I finally got to see her stance. And it looked really familiar: Right foot forward, left foot back. Left fist over right arm and right arm slightly extended.

Ever so slightly, that right arm extended a finger and wiggled at me. Taunting me to make a move.

Oh... Wow! Well, okay I'll bite!

I let out one of my 'Hya!'s and lunged at her. She countered with a sudden foot stomp, which I dodged completely! Then she followed up with a front kick, narrowly missed me.

Then she did something that was NOT prepared for. She suddenly let a flurry of punches at me, they were too fast! And too painful to track. Luckily, I held both my arms up to block all of those. But I failed to notice that I've left belly unguarded, so I wasn't able too see her sidekick that collided with my stomach.

And also: Ouch!

She was about to let fly another barrage of punches and I seriously don't want to do this anymore, so waited for her to come closer.

I blocked her first punch and then I immediately hauled her into a tight bear hug (Mind the pun) and wedged her arms to her sides.

"Wing Chun Gong Fu!" I exclaimed.

"Good!" she chirped "You DO know your forms"

A few beats passed.

"This is cozy" she commented, and grinned suggestively.

Blood rushed to my cheeks as I realize that I was still holding her. My arms slackened significantly, letting her down on the floor.

Both her hands found their way to my shoulders. My stomach did back flips when she looked me in the eye. I don't wanna assume anything, but am I.. Is she...

Are we really going to-?

Then she surprised me by grabbing a handful of the fur on my shoulder and my left arm with her other hand and she flipped me on the table. Fortunately, said table was able to withstand my weight when landed on it.

So... There I was. Back aching and dignity bruised. And as I laid there on top of the table, I felt a hand on my cheek.

"Sorry Po" She apologized. She sounds sincere enough.

I saw her smirk, "I'm not the kind of girl to kiss on the first fight"

Of course...

**Aaand Cut there! **

**Man! Fight scenes are chore! Anywho: insight time! **

**Yes! "She's all about that bass" was a poke at Meagan Trainor's song 'All about that bass'. A song to which I do NOT disagree on! ;)**

**I didn't get to research a whole lot about Wing Chun Gong Fu. All I know is that it was developed by a Master Yip (Aka- the guy that trained Bruce freaking Lee!) and that it existed way after the time setting of Kung Fu Panda. But for the spirit of Fanfiction I decided to include it in as well. **

**And The chickpea curry? Well, that's all me! I love curry!**

**Also, can someone tell me the exact name of woman's casual clothing in Ancient China? I may be from Asia but my knowledge on Chinese costums can only go so far. Plus, I don't wanna offend anyone when I refer to everything in China as 'Chinese' (Chinese shirt, Chinese cooking, Chinese woman. Etc)**

**That's it for this Chapter! Hope you enjoyed it. **

**Please leave a review! :)**

**I own No canon characters! Dreamworks owns them all. Except for the OCs and the plot. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello guys! I would just like to say thanks for the many reviews that I received for this story. Seven chapters for twenty five reviews may not sound much but to an amateur writer like me, that's a big thing! **

**So again, thank you for the support and I'm glad I'm doing this for all of you! :)**

**Now, for the people who Ship Tigress and Chang. Your prayers are answered. This chapter is gonna center our two favorite felines.**

**Now I may have used some "Criminal Minds" references here. Why? Because that show is awesome! And Matthew Gray Gubler Awesome!**

Half passed midnight...

Tigress took a sip of the oolong tea that that Officer Rae had made minutes ago. She looked to her right to see Viper, who was sitting by a table, reading a book.

"Psychology of the Criminal Mind" she said the title was. That took the tiger master by surprise. She never knew Viper had any interest in Psychology. Most of the books she reads were basically just romance. So why the sudden change?

Before she even got to ask her, Chang approached them, carrying a stack of files in his arms.

"You know that used to be Peng's" he suddenly pointed out as he placed the files in top of the table.

Viper looked up to him, surprised by the information.

"Really?"

Chang nodded, "Yeah. He IS our resident Criminologist and Profiler"

I looked at the book for a moment. "Criminology means just that, right?" Tigress asked.

"Psychology of the Criminal Mind?"

"Exactly, Master Tigress" answered Chang.

"But wait" Viper interrupted "How would you know a Criminal's exact thoughts?

"I've always known that a criminal is often unpredictable. So how would you know?" she asked

"She's right" followed Tigress

"I've been in a lot of missions in. Most of them involved stopping bandits and assassins; 'predictable' would be the last thing I would want to describe them."

"Well" Chang began, running his light brown furred paw through his mane.

"The definition of Criminology Master Viper, isn't so much as knowing what a criminal is thinking, so much as asking 'Why would he or she do this?', 'Does he or she have a reason?'"

"What about Profiling?" Tigress asked.

"That's a different field Master Tigress. You see, in Criminology the main focus is the perpetrator's mind. But in Criminal Profiling, the crime scene is the main focus

"For example: a victim was found at her place of business, fully clothed but stabbed over one hundred times in the back. The murder weapon was one of opportunity. No evidence of forced entry was found. The victim was stabbed primarily in the back. However, she was also stabbed a few times in her chest. There was no evidence of a sexual assault or defensive wounds. The offender had covered her body with a blanket after killing her. There was a partial smudged palm print found at the scene.

The victim was the manager of the store who had a strong mind for business. She was in her late twenties and a flirt who enjoyed being treated to expensive gifts from those she dated. Additionally, she was not seeing anyone exclusively at the time of the murder. Drugs and alcohol were a part of her life. She dabbled in Opium and drank quite a bit on the weekends. However, money was not an issue as she had a lot of savings and few debts.

"So you ask, why would someone come into a place of business, seek her out, and do this to her? It appeared that this was an explosive individual who felt the victim had "stabbed him in the back." When you see a victim who primarily has injury to the back without a rape or robbery, it usually points to a revenge murder. This suspect would have had a prior relationship with her which would have been positive at one point. I said this because the killer showed some remorse by covering her, and there was no attempt to rape the victim. The offender would have been in his early to mid twenties due to the victim age and the evidence pointing to a man without prior homicide experience. This means he would be younger rather than older."

Viper and Tigress stared at him for a while.

"That was... Pretty accurate" Tigress told him. He gave her a somewhat content smile, she then felt her blood rushing to her face.

Dammit not now!

"I wasn't done" he mentioned, that pleased Tigress for some reason. She leaned against the table to hear the rest. Viper did the same, abandoning the book in favor of this.

"Now, You see rage and remorse at this scene. This is an explosive act by someone who feels he was pushed to the brink by the victim. Again, you had no robbery. You had no forced entry. You had no sexual component.

What you did have was a weapon of opportunity versus a weapon brought to the scene. The offender grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk to kill her, and he took them with him after the crime. So this points to a man who knew the victim, had a positive relationship with her that had gone bad, was young and inexperienced in crime, and due to the type of murder, would have been someone with anger management issues. Because he would have known the victim and had such a grudge, this is the type of perpetrator who would have had difficulty keeping his feelings secret.

Thus, people would know him and know of his anger toward the victim." he concluded.

"So It turned out the perpetrator was a man she had recently dated. However, she had broken the relationship off and wanted nothing to do with him. This hurt him terribly because for years they had been close friends prior to dating. People in her office knew him because he kept coming to the office in an attempt to convince her to take him back. He was in his early twenties and had no criminal record. The sad fact was that he was so emotionally invested in the relationship that he felt she stabbed him in the back. In fact he had uttered this phrase to those who were friends to him and her.

He had gone to the office after hours when she was working late in an attempt to get her to take him back. She told him to get out and that she wanted nothing to do with him. In a rage, he grabbed her scissors and began stabbing her. After he was done, he covered her body with a blanket she kept in her office. He said he couldn't stand to look at what he'd done. He took the scissors with him and hid them at his home." Surprisingly, this came from Viper.

Now it was Chang's turn to stare at her. Surprised that she solved it by herself.

"That is... Actually quite impressive" he marveled.

Viper winked at him, "Well I'm not just another pretty face, Officer" there was something about the way she said the word 'Officer' that sounded annoyingly familiar.

Wow, really Viper?

Tigress resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friend. Not that she's jealous! No! Viper could flirt with whomever she wants! It's just really annoying to see her flirt with every guy we meet in missions.

"Well I'm sure a lot of guys found that fact the hard way, Master Viper" he chuckled before walking off the other side of the room, where Officer Rae was busy sifting through files.

"You really had to do that?" Tigress harshly asked, Viper looked up at her.

"Do what?"

"You don't have to flirt with every man you meet" she lectured.

She scoffed "That wasn't flirting"

"Viper, I've known you for years. If you see a guy even remotely good looking some sort for switch suddenly snaps on in your head"

"So you admit it then?" she asked

"Admit what?" Is this some sort of twenty questions?

"That Chang is good looking" she replied suggestively

Tigress' reaction was almost instant:

"I didn't say that!" she exclaimed. She then immediately recoiled as she realized just how defensive her reaction was. And also, how loud it was.

"Is everything okay there?" they heard Chang call out. Tigress just hoped he didn't hear their entire conversation.

"Er yeah... Just a little 'Discussion' with a fellow Master" she lied.

Once his attention was back on the files, she glanced back at her "Fellow Master" only to see her grinning. Like she had just uncovered something big.

"What?" she demanded quietly.

The serpent dismissively swiveled her eyes upwards, suddenly acting innocent.

"Oh never mind" she muttered before returning to read the previously closed book.

VVV

After finding the exact details that they need, Rae had suggested that they should get some much needed rest, Viper and Tigress couldn't agree more. It's been a long night.

As soon as got inside her room, she wasted no time and flopped on to her bed. She was tired. Physically and mentally tired.

How does Chang and his team put up with this kind of lifestyle? Well, then again people like Chang were trained differently from from her.

To them, staying up all night reading case files to solve crimes and catching psychopaths is a normal everyday thing. To her l knowledge. Completely different from the way she lived at the Jade Palace.

She sighed as as laid an arm across her forehead, staring at the ceiling. Willing herself to sleep.

Her eyelids were just about to drop when she heard the floorboards creak from outside her door. A silhouette appeared through the rice paper, it looked familiar and it looks as though that the person casting it was limping.

"Owww" it moaned. She huffed and immediately got up and off the bed.

"Po?" she whispered, opening the door to confront the lumbering panda.

"Hey Tigress" he sounded like he was in pain, but he was still smiling.

"What happened to you?" she tried not to sound as compassionate as she could. She's been losing a lot her edge lately.

"Well long story short: Cynthia cooked some curry and then she slammed on top of the table"

That... Did not make sense.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go get some sleep. Goodnight. Ow..."

She was still confused. She almost yelled at him to come back and explain but then she remembered just how important sleep is right about now.

Remembering her deprivation of sleep, she closed the door and went back to bed. Deciding to deal with everything in the morning.

VVV

Her eyes opened...

She didn't know what time it was but she was sure that it still early. She groaned as she knew that once she wakes up, she won't be able to bring herself to sleep again. Probably her routine back at the Jade Palace had something to with it.

She rubbed my eyes and blearily scanned the walls of her quarters. The sun was only starting to show its first rays. It was rather funny that despite of what little sleep she got, she was still able to wake up this early.

'Well, there's no use sitting around and stare at a wall' she scathingly thought

'I might as well take a walk. What could happen?...

Oh... Right... There was a psycho on the loose.'

And then she remembered that this place had a gym. She also remembered that she's a Kung Fu Master, she needed to practice my forms. She hasn't had the time to do that every since they got here.

Sure the station won't mind.

With that last thought, she made her bed, walked out of her room and made a straight course to the stairs.

About two flights of stairs later, she heard a feint sound from the hall. She recognized this floor, the gym was just down the hall. Where the sound was coming from.

The double doors that lead to the gym were wide open and the first rays of the sun peaked through them. And as she got closer she could now make out what the sound was. It sounded like someone was grunting.

A second sound caught her ears: a feint 'Woosh!', followed by a metallic ring.

She peaked through the doorframe. Heat flooded her system as she stood there, seeing none other than Chang, who was wielding the very same katana sword that he used before.

Armed, panting and... Or dear gods! Shirtless! Does he ever wear a shirt when he's doing this?

It was too early for her to be dealing with this. She had too much pent up energy! She needed to train!

'That's it! I am Master Tigress! I am a Kung Fu Master! And I am NOT going to let some... Distracting male get in the way of that!'

Determined, she collected that famous, stoic, demeanor that she was known for and casually strode inside.

"Oh Good morning Tigress!" remarkably, he had somehow known she was there. She also found it strange that he had dropped the honorifics and had reverted to a first name basis. And as equally strange, she ignored it.

"What brings you up here?" he continued to practice his forms.

"I thought I could practice my forms up here"

She scanned the whole room, it seems like they were the only ones here. The gym was more larger than the training hall back home. And also there weren't any obstacles, just some heavy lifting equipments, a mat, a bench, a punching bag that was hanging from the ceiling by a rope and a rack that held a few night sticks and batons.

"This is a big gym" she mused.

Chang chuckled "It's no Kung Fu hall. But it's enough. Hiya!" he swung his Katana blade in a downward motion. His eyes locked straight forwards as if he's engaged in combat.

And as much as she wanted to avert her eyes away from his display, she couldn't. She just can't. What was it about this man that makes him so distracting?

"So yeah" finally gaining a bit of control over herself, she awkwardly backed away -Slightly tripping as she did so-.

Choosing a spot near the training mats, Tigress breathed meditatively. Inhale through the nose, Exhale through the mouth. She righted her stance before beginning her forms.

For almost half an hour later, she trained in silence. But despite her best efforts to ignore that nagging feeling in her chest and continue her training, she had to resist the urge to look over her shoulder and steal a peek at the lion across the room.

Just to make sure he wasn't gonna pull anything on me again, she would like to believe that.

Though in reality, she just wanted to watch... Er... Observe his form. Or rather, one of his forms. So far, she had seen two of his styles. His skill in sword combat and the one he used on that bandit on their first day.

'Oh just go for it!' she mentally yelled, 'He's too busy to even notice. And even if he did, you have a valid reason'

Finally, she gave in to her urges. She sighed, she couldn't believe how low she had sunk in just mere days. This wasn't usually her way to operate. But maybe this time she could make an exception.

Just after finishing her current set, she turned her head and looked over to where Chang was.

"What the-?" she muttered when she saw that Chang had sheathed his sword, stowed near him as he sat on the bench. Still shirtless.

His jade green eyes fixated on her. The more he stared, the more Tigress felt self conscious. What was he doing? Had he been watching her this entire time?

"You were watching me...?" she stammered.

"Heihuquan" Chang whispered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"The Black Tiger style" he called out. He then stood from his seat and began to walk over to her.

"Characterised by its extensive footwork, acrobatic kicks, low, wide stances, and unique fist position, where the thumb is curled in the same manner as the other fingers, rather than wrapped around them.

According to the Shaolin grandmasters, the style is the single most external style in the Shaolin canon; the longer the stylist practices, however, the more she or he comes to rely solely on internal power."

For a moment, Tigress stared agape. Half impressed on how spot on his observation was. And half nervous as she realised just how better he looked up close. As in: almost close enough for her to tackle him to the ground and-

"Er yeah, exactly" her tail twitched uncontrollably.

"You know I never got to witness the style up close"

She looked skeptical "Really?"

"Yes. It's quite fascinating really that such power would come from someone like you"

Though he didn't sound like he was insulting her but something about that comment slightly irked her for some reason.

"What about you then?" she asked, she didn't trip over her words for once.

"What about me?"

She was blunt "Your fighting style, Officer"

She crossed her arms over her chest in a challenging way.

"My fighting style?"

"Yes. So far I've witnessed your form in using a Katana blade. A very sharp, one sided blade that was popularly used by Shoguns and Samurais of feudal Japan. The sword itself is believed to be connected to the wielder and rather than thinking of it as a mere weapon it is considered as an extension of the arm"

She sent him a confident smirk.

You're not the only one who can be smart.

But his reaction was not what she was expecting. He smiled.

"That's quite impressive, Tigress"

There it is again. He reverted from calling her 'Master'. What was going on?

She scoffed "The last time I looked, there SHOULD be a Master in there somewhere"

"Yes, there should be. But I'm off duty"

"What does that have to do anything?"

He shot smug grin "When I'm not 'in business' I tend to act more casual and therefore I don't need to call you the extra name"

She sneered. Her tail began twitching again, but this time, it was doing it out of annoyance.

"That doesn't even make any sense" she retorted

"Of course it does!" he then reconsidered it "Well, to me anyways"

"Still. That does not give you any right to disrespect me like that!" she snapped.

"Well-" he didn't get to finish that thought, for Tigress was suddenly at his face.

"And don't you dare think, even for a second, that I have forgiven you for arresting me for no reason!"

A few tense seconds passed by, "You know, not being able to let go of something like that is a sign of anger management issues"

She would've punt him off this building if it wasn't against the law!

"Oh you think you're so smart" she quipped.

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, can read twenty thousand words per minute."

A beat, then: "Yeah, I'm a genius"

And as soon as those words left his mouth, Tigress, with all the fury that she was famous for, talked him to the ground.

So the whole scenario looked like this:

Chang sprawled on his back, surprised and disoriented. With Tigress on top of him, her claws dangerously close to his neck and viciously growling at his face. Her tail swishing, unintentionally hitting Chang's legs.

"If you're such a genius, then you should know that showing arrogance to a Kung Fu Master is never a good idea" she seethed.

"Yeah?" he huffed. A bit out of breath but he still managed to crack a lopsided grin.

"Well, attacking a lawman can get you in jail" he pointed out.

"Perhaps this time I may have a good reason to arrest you"

She returned his grin, "You're off duty"

"So?"

"Didn't you say that when you're 'Not in business' you refrain from all formal connections. And since you 'currently' don't see me as a Master then I 'currently' don't see you as an Officer"

"So what you're saying is, everything that might happen in the next minute or so is strictly between you and me?"

She gave him a look "You might say that"

In a flash, Chang grabbed her shoulders and rolled over. And before the striped feline could even register what had happened, she found herself on her back, stunned and flushed.

She then realised, just now, that Chang was merely inches away from her. Also, she remembered that he still wasn't wearing a shirt.

The heat of his body radiated on hers. She laid there, pressed between the floor and a wall of taut muscles. Her golden orbs clashed with his jade green ones. That familiar heat had once again flooded her system, and as it lingered, instincts began taking control.

And her instincts told her to just lay there, and let this dominant male proceed.

And proceed he did. No words, no warnings. Just the feel of his lips on hers. Tigress's fur stood on end.

At first, she felt very stiff, but then, as the moments passed, and as it kept extending, she finally reciprocated.

Her tail, that was previously swaying back forth during the whole ordeal, had found Chang's, and had now intertwined themselves. Slowly, her paws reached up and cradled his face.

Her eyes half lidded, her muzzle angled in a way that could be only described in one of Viper's romance novels.

Eventually, she began to purr. If anyone could believe it! Master Tigress, Leader of the Furious Five, purring to man's touch!

Softly at first, then more loudly. Her purrs resonated throughout the whole gym, and it had registered in Chang to do more.

*Gong!*

Then everything just stopped.

*Gong!*

Chang growled in frustration. That was the morning gong, signaling to the people to wake up and start the day.

Or in Chang and Tigress's case, the signal was loud and clear: Time's up.

He stood on his feet, before lending a paw to Tigress to help her up.

"Well" he lifted her paw to his lips and lightly kissed it "Back to work, Master Tigress"

"Of course" she replied, still a bit shaken from their short lived moment.

He smiled thoughtfully, letting her paw go before grabbing his shirt from the bench.

"Come on" he beckoned, that same smile still ghosting his lips, he then proceeded to the door and through the hallway.

After a few breaths, her legs moved and she followed him.

**And Cut there! **

**Please let me know if this chapter catches up to your expectations because I think this might be the most suckish chapter I've written. Also, this might be the last chapter where we see a bit of romance, I gotta keep the plot going. **

**Well that's it for this one, I hope you enjoyed this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it.**

**And please, don't forget to review.**

**PS: I know nothing about Kung Fu or Swords. All the information came straight from the internet. And also, I do not Own Kung Fu Panda.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Little side note here: Expect a lot tension in future chapters. Both in a sexual and suspenseful sense. And as for this chapter: for some reason, I feel like writing something humorous, I don't know why. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda.**

They hadn't spoken a word to one another for a while now.

Tigress somehow knew that things would get awkward between her and Chang. Both of them lapsed in an unnerving silence as they descended down the flight of stairs, which to Tigress's point of view, was too slow. Painstakingly slow.

She had trouble registering what had happened up there in the gym. Chang had just kissed her. A 'man', had just kissed her. Granted, Chang is a rather handsome specimen; she had already established that.

But if any other man had done that to her, he would quickly find himself in the ER, desperately needing medical attention. Or if he doesn't make it: a morgue.

With him, it didn't feel wrong. It just feels as if... Well... She couldn't exactly describe it. Like a surge of electrical current had passed through her spine and fanning throughout every nerve in her body, that would be as close as she could put it.

Suddenly she remembered her fellow Master, Viper. Recalling a one time where she heard the serpent's rather colorful description of a kiss:

'A flaming ball of emotion that flares bright red and burns with a passionate heat of a thousand suns'

Her response: 'You're just changing spit and wrestling tongues, there's nothing special about that!'

She'd be damned if Viper found out. The snake would never let her live it down. Tigress felt all of those things. The heat, the emotion. It would've escalated to something else, something far more deeper if they hadn't been interrupted by that stupid gong!

She sighed in despair. Thank the gods that no one could hear her thoughts.

'Look at me!' she thought glumly 'About a week ago, I was Master Tigress! Fierce leader of the Furious Five, Master of her own animal style and one of Grand Master Shifu's Prized students!'

She turned a secretive eye at Chang, 'Now I'm no better than any woman that fell for a handsome face!'

And that fact, to her, was a hazard. A distraction. This. whatever this was that they had unofficially started, it has to stop. That murderer is still out there, somewhere. And they have a duty to fulfil.

She came to a halt.

"Chang"

The lion turned and stopped just short of a meter away.

"What is it?"

She sighed gravely before she adopted one her no nonsense looks,

"We have to stop this. Now" she firmly stated.

"Stop what?" he wondered "What do you mean?"

"Up there, in the gym" she answered. She blushed slightly, "When you kissed me"

Surprisingly, a devilish smile slowly formed in his lips, unintentionally showing Tigress a glimpse of his fangs.

"What, are you saying you hadn't at least enjoyed that?" he smirked.

"N-no!" she had never felt this vulnerable before.

"So you're not gonna deny it?" the lion asked, in a way that sounded as if he already knew what her answer was.

Tigress calmed herself down, or she tries to.

"I have a job to do, Chang" she reminded him. "We have a job to do, and I can't jeopardize this mission just because-" she then trailed off, like her current sentiment had just died in her throat.

Whatever it is that she was about to say is gone now.

So instead, she tries a different approach.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked as firmly as she could.

"I don't know" he answered, though the way his mouth curved into a mischievous smile betrays his sentiment.

"Heat of the moment?" he offered "Chemistry?" he began approaching her "Animal instinct" by then, he stood so close to her, so much so that the other feline now had an in depth look into his eyes.

Passionate, Fierce and Dangerous. And yet warm, playful and inviting. All those things, she saw in his eyes.

"Now Officer, if you think that one lousy, short lived, kiss is what it takes to get to me, then you're wrong"

'What the hell am I doing!?' She mentally berated herself

'I'm supposed to be sending him packing! Not give him hints!'

And right on cue, the lion asked "Well, what does it usually takes to get to you?"

She took a deep breath "Nothing"

"Nothing?"

"Nothing..." now it was her turn to be assertive. She menacingly crept forwards, naturally making Chang to take a step back.

"...Because usually, by this time, all the men that tried their chance with me ended up with a bruised ego and a broken limb"

She tried to sound as venomous as she could. If her scare tactic is working she wouldn't know; Chang hides his expressions quite well. But that didn't stop her.

"So if you know what's good for you, Officer... " his back hit the wall, she then poked his chest for good measure

"...Use that eidetic memory of yours, and remember this: I know seventy five ways to make your heart stop, Fifty ways for me to break your bones, twenty types of kicks for me to kick you in a very unpleasant place and five pressure point strikes that will render you immobile. Either temporary or permanent, that is up to me"

A few beats passed, "Remember those numbers, Officer" she warned "...And you might just live long enough to solve our case and catch the killer

"Do I make myself clear?" she asked

He blinked once. Though he didn't look threatened, Tigress could see it in his eyes that he was intimidated to some unknown degree.

"Yes" he answered "I get it"

"I get it, what?" she challenged.

"I get it, Master Tigress"

She nodded in content; sending him one final glare. All the while, she observed him. His face unreadable, tail swishing behind him and his shirt clad chest rising up and down as he took breath; one or two of its clasps askew. She also noticed that his badge was slightly crooked.

Be it her constant disciplinarian side or her being overly compulsive, seeing those tiny flaws made her feel a bit irate.

"As of this moment Chang, I'll be drawing a line between us" she announced before roughly grabbing him by the shoulder and proceeded on fixing his badge, avoiding making any form of eye contact with him.

"The line is drawn..." she rambled on, mentally cursing her heightened sense of smell.

Damn! If he didn't smell this good, this would be a lot easier, she thought.

"...There's a huge line..." she then moved on to the clasps on his shirt.

"So this line... " he spoke "Is it imaginary or am I gonna have to get some ink and a brush?"

She dared to look up after hearing his remark. He wasn't smiling though, only a look of mild interest. A lock of his mane grazed the side of his cheek, her paw suddenly made its way up to his face to swipe it away.

"I thought you were drawing a line" he pointed out

"Don't flatter yourself Officer" she grounded back.

She saw him smirk "I don't know..." he offhandedly replied. Though what he said next had nearly made her heart stop.

"...if you weren't staring at my ass like you did the other night then your request might be more easier to do"

Her paws froze on his second clasp, they stayed there for a moment before she felt that she could move them again. And much to her chagrin, he had the audacity to say: "Yeah. I noticed"

"Never knew my ass looked that good" he added.

She tried to save face by adopting a stony look, but the blood that rushed to her cheeks gave it all away.

"D-do you have any respect for me at all?!" she exclaimed.

She blushed even harder when he suddenly laughed, "Damn Tigress, you're making this too easy for me"

"MASTER Tigress!" she corrected harshly.

"Is this what you do?! Kiss a woman and then annoy the hell out of her?"

"No" he answered, he then adapted a look of sincerity.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked out of the blue.

Tigress hesitated a bit, "I-I want you to stop... "

She slowly took a step backwards, offering him to step away from the wall. A sinking feeling snuck it's way into her chest.

"...What happened. Up there at the gym, that would be the last of it"

She couldn't shake it off; All those other men that tried their chance on her, it was so easy to reject them. Though looking at Chang now: Confused, Disappointed, and hurt.

"You know we couldn't just ignore this" he pointed out.

She sighed "Yes we can, Chang"

"How can you be certain?"

"I remember what it is that I came here to do" she then eyed him suspiciously "Or maybe you've forgotten about it?"

"I haven't" he answered almost instantly.

"Then stop it!" she demanded "Stop whatever it is that you're doing to me! I'm begging you Chang, put a stop to your advances before we do something that we might regret"

At that moment, right after she said it, she caught that slightest clue of guilt in his eyes. She didn't know why, only until he gazed directly into her golden orbs (Which was slightly misting over); a sudden realization came to her.

"Up there at the gym, if the gong had not sounded, how far were you going take it?"

The look on his face was clear as day. Though he hasn't said a word, Tigress already knew.

And as if he did not feel the ever building tension, he blatantly said: "I thought we were on the same page"

It was voluntary, and quite so unexpected, that as soon as he said it, a perfectly aimed slap had promptly hit him straight in his left cheek. A slap that was so strong, it drove his whole head turn, in which he stayed.

A red, flaming bruise had immediately began forming on his aching cheek.

"You..." she seethed through greeted teeth "What kind of woman do you take me for?"

"Apparently..." he ignored the risks and turned his head back to look at her.

"...You're the type of woman who unwittingly contradicts herself"

He caught her paw just in time before another impending slap had connected with his face.

He pulled her towards him, their faces only mere inches away. She sneered. His eyes had lost none of its fiery resolve.

"You didn't have any problems when were upstairs" he pointed out.

"Let go of me you deviant!" she tried to shake her paw away from his grasp, only to rendered futile for Chang held fast. And to that, she growled.

"If you even value the very thing that makes you a man Chang Lei Reed, then I suggest you let me go!" she roared, he seemed unfazed however.

"Yes" he purred "I am but a man, Tigress..."

"But I'll have you screaming like a woman in the next few seconds!"

He chuckled, one of self indulgence "...But what was a man to think, when a woman, such as yourself, would tackle a man to the ground?"

"All but pinning down!" she exclaimed, to which had made him smirk.

"Well yes, but you weren't exactly yelling at me to get off of you. You just laid there..."

To that, her lips remained shut, a furious flush slowly staining her cheeks. Or was it beet red from embarrassment?

"...I just did what I was biologically set to do, Tigress. You could've stopped me if you wanted to, you could've ripped my throat out right then and there"

Finally he let her go. She made it quick to lay a more comfortable distance away from him, even though deep down, all she wanted to do was to recreate that moment that they had up there.

"Well, I should have" she shot back.

"But you hadn't... Why?" he actually sounded curious.

"That was before I found out that you were just any other man that wanted the exact same thing from a woman!" She exclaimed

"And to set your sights on me! A Kung Fu Master that knows several techniques to kill you!" she didn't sound like she was seething, more on the side of annoyance.

"I mean, are you really that pent up, Officer Chang? Is that how you release your stress from your work? You just go around and boink anything that moved?"

"Okay now that is just-" he would've said mean, obviously taking offense from that last statement, but that was before Tigress had cut him off by pointing an accusing finger at his face.

"Because if that is what you want from me then you're not gonna get far!" she declared.

He opened his mouth to talk, but she wasn't finished berating him yet.

"I don't know how many women you go through every month, in fact I don't even want to know... But leave me out of it!"

At that, she walked away, infuriated and disgusted. Though she felt as if she had gone too far with her final outburst, and yet, she had not looked back at the lion.

Chang sighed as he watched her leave, his feelings still smarting from her accusations, knowing full well that said accusations were unreal.

It left him confused; just mere minutes ago she was willing to throw caution in the wind, ready to make a decision that if word of it got out, it could ruin both his and her reputations.

And just now she was ready to use her deadly claws on him, and on a very unpleasant part of his anatomy!

That fire that he saw in those infuriated eyes of hers, it was both scorching and thrilling in the same time! Never in his lifetime had he met such a spitfire of a woman.

She has a bit of a temper, but be that as it may, that temper had only made him want her more.

"I am but a man, Tigress" he thought as finally got out of his initial shock and made his way towards the stairs.

"Your mouth says no, but your body says otherwise..." he licked his upper lip and he let a small, lopsided grin tug the corner of his mouth.

He purred contently "...Believe me: I can smell it a mile away"

VVV

"It says here that many of the serial killers have admitted to an abnormally strong sex drive. Fetishist Chian Yao, who would often behead his victims before raping them, said that he had a "very strong sensual drive, a weird sexual drive that started early, a lot earlier than normal." Yet he fantasized about dead women, not living ones."

Po coughed out a mouthful of rice, "Really, Viper?" he scolded

It was nearing midmorning, Po and the rest of the Furious Five had already started eating breakfast.

Whilst Cynthia was manning the stove, Rae had seated herself at the table, too focused on a list of names and information to even pick up her chopsticks and eat. Which in turn made a certain female panda feel irate.

Viper ignored Po and continued reading along,

"Says here that Chian Yao was a..." Then she tilted her head at an unfamiliar word

"...'Necrophiliac'?" her eyes inquisitively darted back and forth at her teammates, as if one of them knew what the word meant.

"I have no idea what that means" Mantis spoke, "But if it's being used to describe a fetishist then I don't think I wanna know"

Peng, who was (By Chance) sitting right next to Viper, chuckled mischievously.

"Well" he began " Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. Singular accounts of necrophilia in history are sporadic, though written records suggest the practice was present within Ancient Egypt. Herodotus writes in The Histories that, to discourage intercourse with a corpse, ancient Egyptians left deceased beautiful women to decay for "three or four days" before giving them to the embalmers."

By then, Po had discarded his chopsticks and gave up eating altogether, which to him, felt such a shame because Cynthia was such a good cook. And just like her, the concept of wasting food was a big no-no.

Crane, who had been listening in on the topic, looked mortified.

"You know, there was a time in my life where talking about one's fetishes is considered a weird thing" he pointed out.

Rae smirked before giving Crane a sly look, "You mean when we were at that tavern and that you got totally hammered you confessed to all that is alive and sundry that you, and I quote..."

She coughed for effect, and despite Crane's efforts to silence her, she spoke with a nasally pitch as she were mimicking his voice.

" 'To all of you horny rabbits in here, meet me in the back if you want to have a piece of the bird man!' end of quote"

An eruption of laughter had followed, save for Crane and Viper, who laid her tail on her friend's wing sympathetically.

"And then what happened?" Monkey egged Rae on.

"Dude!" Crane exclaimed, and unsurprisingly he was ignored.

"Well Master Monkey, if you really must know, let's just say that the tavern that night was full of beautiful, if not unwilling rabbits..."

Crane groaned while everyone else chuckled. The avian master pinched a talon on the bridge of his beak.

"...and to make a long story short, it took approximately twenty slaps from twenty rabbits sober him up" she paused for a beat "And one kick to his cash and prizes to knock him out"

"Ouch!" Po commented

"Who knew you had it in you, Crane!" Mantis complimented, patting a congratulatory pincer on the back of the bird's neck after landing on his shoulder.

Monkey, being who he was, merely laughed. Viper ruefully shook her head at the immaturity of it all.

"I was drunk!" Crane defended loudly, "I was severely, stupidly and immensely drunk! And that was ten years ago" then he glared at Rae, "And you're one to talk!"

The eagle laughed "What?"

"I sorta recalled you confessing, and in complete sobriety if I may add, that you had these multiple fantasies about doing it with an alligator!"

This however, was met by a silent beak. Rae coughed awkwardly, deciding to go back to her list. Crane could've sworn that he had spotted a tinge of red on her jet blue feathered cheek.

All of a sudden, Cynthia shrugged her shoulders and said "She already did that"

Everyone in the room had become silent, then a throaty laugh erupted from Mantis. The tiny insect had given up all his restraints and had let himself fall from his perch on Crane and had landed on his back on the floor, with his legs kicking in the air.

Everyone else had opted their own reactions.

Po had tilted his head to the side, looking more curious than disgusted. Viper blushed beat red at the revelation, and like Po, she wondered just how it would have worked, given that the size difference was... Daunting. Monkey, only felt amazed, and in a very unlikely manner, he did not even let out a single chuckle.

As for Crane, he didn't know whether to laugh as loud as Mantis, or feel horrified. And given the circumstance, he was too afraid to ask.

"Cynthia!" Rae yelled, her blush starting to grow darker. "How the hell did you know that!?"

Cynthia did not answer back however. But from the corner of her eye, Rae spotted Peng. The snake refused to look the eagle in the eye, he gulped once and nervously licked his bottom lip.

Though despite his best efforts not to give anything away, Rae didn't have to put two and two together to figure out what he had done.

Slowly, she brought up an accusing feather and pointed it at the snake.

"You are DEAD MEAT!" she seethed.

Peng brought the tip of his tail to Rae's feather tip and promptly shook it, in an act to look apologetic as he could.

"I didn't know that it was a big secret" he meekly reasoned.

Rae wasn't going to have any of it though, so from the very top of her lungs, she yelled: "Peng used to steal women's undergarments when he was eighteen!"

A number of collective gasps had flooded the room, with Viper being the loudest one.

"You bitch!" Peng sneered at the eagle.

Cynthia let out an exasperated sigh, like an annoyed mother would to her bickering children.

"I don't know why you guys are getting so worked up about having a sexual fetish" she said.

"I mean, I have one myself" she shyly glanced at Po, who was starting to blush himself "but that is neither here nor there"

"Does it involve smearing your body with honey?" Rae asked, though she sounded as if she already knew the answer.

The female panda brushed a tendril of hair away from her face. Her cheeks burning up. She didn't reply however.

"Where the hell is Chang?" she cursed under her breath.

**And cut there! **

**Well, this chapter took longer than expected.**

**Unless you missed it, the whole "revealing their most deepest secrets" was a reference to a gag reel from F*R*I*E*N*D*S. **

**And to further explain the situation with our two favorite felines (If you have a ship name for them, then by all means, put it in your review!); while I was writing this chapter, I had to make sure that I portray Tigress with a minimal amount of changes as I could. And probably, you already know Tigress for she is in the movies: hardcore and tough as nails. But I have to point out that she was single throughout her whole life, (assuming she had been) and when she was faced by a ruggedly handsome man and only then she had felt these emotions that had laid dormant within her for so long. **

**And she considers that as a hazard because if she let herself get carried away by what her body was telling her, then all that time cultivating her chi and striving to do what is right would have been wasted. **

**And finally, the criminal profile that I used in this chapter was based on a real person. Just type Ed Kemper on Wikipedia and you'll find out who he was. **

**That is it for now. **

**Ps: the next Chapter for When Louis met Jessie might take a while longer. I got blocked again. And a plot bunny has been bugging me to write another Pokemon One-shot. So I'll probably do the One-shot first. **


End file.
